Queen Marika's Essays / No. 91: The Reason Why Hay Fever Has Increased

Hello✨😃 This is Marika.
This topic is based on something that grew out of the comments section.

I would be happy if you could join me😆

No. 91: The Reason Why Hay Fever Has Increased

The source material is a comment left on the article below.

In response to this comment, I remembered an interesting theory regarding hay fever, since it's related to allergies, so I will introduce that theory this time😆

Before I talk about that theory...

You might be thinking, "We're talking about food allergies, so isn't talking about hay fever off-topic?"

So, for those who thought that, I will first explain what an allergy is.

An allergy is
"a phenomenon in which one's own immune cells react excessively to foreign substances, causing harm to one's own body."

And immunity is
"a mechanism that identifies self and non-self, and eliminates foreign substances."
Due to differences in the cells involved, immunity is classified as follows.

What I want to emphasize is that immunity eliminates foreign substances. In other words...

Regardless of whether it is harmful or harmless, if it is a foreign substance that is not yourself, it will eliminate it no matter what😆

Food allergies and hay fever are allergies caused by a runaway humoral immune response.

How does it run wild?
I will skip the details and explain it very roughly.

The main cause of this immune runaway is mast cells (also known as mastocytes).
When these cells recognize components of pollen, they secrete a substance called histamine.

The secretion of histamine is, so to speak,
“Forcefully expel this component!”
a message that says.

Therefore, when histamine is secreted, the body tries to expel the pollen by any means necessary, such as through sneezing, runny nose, and tears.

These are the typical symptoms of hay fever 😃

Hay fever is an allergy that has increased rapidly since the 1960s.
Which plant's pollen one reacts to varies from person to person, but I get the impression that there are particularly many people who react to cedar pollen.

Various theories have been proposed as to why the number of people showing allergic reactions to cedar pollen has increased, including the mass planting of cedar trees in mountains because they are easy to use as lumber, the progression of air pollution, and changes in dietary habits.

However, besides these, there is a rather interesting theory.

It is a theory by the late Dr. Koichiro Fujita, who taught at various universities.

To summarize, it is the theory that
“Due to the progress of hygiene, opportunities to be infected by parasites have decreased, and because mast cells have become idle, they have started to react to things like pollen.”
is the theory.

What does that mean?

Mast cells also react to components of parasites (such as skin fragments and secretions).
As a result of mast cells trying to force the expulsion of parasites, the body suffers from symptoms such as diarrhea.

So~.

When the frequency of parasites entering the body is high, mast cells are busy dealing with the parasites and have no time to react to things like pollen.
However, when parasites disappear, mast cells have more free time, which creates the opportunity to react to pollen.

That is what Dr. Fujita thought.

The fact that living environments have become more hygienic and the frequency of parasites entering the body has decreased is actually a good thing.

However, if that has made the body more prone to reacting to pollen, then excessive hygiene is something to think about.

There are many points in Dr. Fujita's theory that make you think.

But...😅

I don't think I could bring myself to do what Dr. Fujita did—intentionally infecting myself with a tapeworm, naming it, and raising it inside my body...😖

Well, I'd like to think about maintaining a moderate hygienic environment. With that, I'll end this post here😃

*In creating this article, I referred to the following site.

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