Symptoms The symptoms are as varied as the causes. Any kind of physical or emotional stress – anger, fear, fatigue, illness, family or school problems – often provokes the allergic reaction or makes it more severe. There may be only one symptom such as a skin rash or headache, or a combination of symptoms such [...]

In common parlance the term allergy is used to describe an unusual sensitivity but, strictly speaking, it should be confined to an altered reactivity on a second or subsequent exposure to a stimulus. Some patients get headaches in response to an allergic reaction, possibly due to release of histamine. With the implication that food allergy [...]

Charles Henderson, a prominent businessman, came to see me because he was troubled by mental exhaustion, mental confusion, and fatigue. He was a top executive of a large company who dictated to a battery of secretaries from morning to night. One of his secretaries pointed out to him that he did not give understandable dictation [...]

This form of filtration is only available in plumbed-in units. It uses a membrane with microscopic holes in it that only water molecules can get through. Tap water is held in one chamber and water molecules slowly seep out into the other. It removes the vast majority of organic pollutants (but see below), and takes [...]

Vegetables Celery, fennel and celeriac Avocado pears Lettuce Swede (can be eaten raw, grated, in salads, as well as cooked) Watercress Spinach Alfalfa sprouts Okra (also called bhindi, or ladies’ fingers) Asparagus Meat and fish Turkey Duck Goose Rabbit Pheasant or other game Lamb Fish (except smoked fish and shellfish) Fruit Gooseberries Blackcurrants Redcurrants Bananas [...]

The more allergens a baby is exposed to during the first year of life, the more likely it is to develop allergies. The first three months are much the most crucial. Airborne allergens are just as important as food allergens for the high-risk child, and reducing exposure to the main ones may help your child [...]

This is a typical day in the life of a hyperactive child, as described by an exhausted mother to Dr Doris Rapp, a paediatrician working in Buffalo, New York: ‘In the morning Matthew was stuffy and tired. He was cranky and would get upset over homework not done, cry, call himself stupid, and pester his [...]

Another of our cultural myths is that the past is a perfect guide to what we should eat. Hence the common criticism of ideas about food intolerance: ‘Surely foods that have been eaten for thousands of years can’t cause serious health problems – if they did it would have been noticed before.’ In fact, experience [...]