WEBVTT - What are Allergies and How Close Are We to a Cure? 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.800 Guess what, mengo, what's that will? So last year click 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:06.000 Hold did this ridiculous article that I just found so funny, 0:00:06.040 --> 0:00:08.160 like I do many of their articles, but the title 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:12.320 of it was security failure. Epipen's database of everyone who's 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:15.880 allergic to bees has been obtained by Bees. Here's a 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:18.960 line from the article. So it was this prepared statement 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:22.520 from the company's website, the EpiPen company website, and it says, 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:25.080 we do not know what they planned to do with it, 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:27.280 but we can confirm that Bees have a list of 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:31.600 everyone who has ever purchased an EpiPen bees heavier information. 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:34.879 Now we are very sorry. You know what strange is 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:38.520 My dad has a severe allergy to fire ants and 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:40.640 we only realized this when he was in his forties. 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:44.320 Were in Florida visiting Disney World and Cypress Gardens, and 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:47.279 this is when we were kids. He got bitten and 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:50.120 then rushed away. Like my mom said, his face welled 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:52.800 up like modern shore and pure luck, which is just 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:55.640 such a dated reference, but that's what she always brings 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:57.600 up when we talk about this. It is a pretty 0:00:57.680 --> 0:00:59.840 dated reference, but it was also a pretty funny and 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.360 diculous scene. But back to your dad, like I assume 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:05.200 he was, okay, yeah, I mean my dad being my dad, 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:07.280 he just played it down the whole time. And it 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:10.200 actually ended up being a strangely wonderful day for us 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:12.960 because while my parents were at the hospital, my aunt 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:15.080 and uncle were with us, and we somehow got to 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:18.279 pet a baby white tiger like one of the people 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.120 at Cypress Gardens let us do this. So in my 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:24.080 memory of the tiger cup plays a much much larger 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:26.200 role in the day than my dad's not being there. 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:30.080 You were obviously really concerned about your dad great son, 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:33.400 but you know now my dad just carries his EpiPen 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:36.560 with him everywhere, which is a literal lifesaver. Well, I 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:39.560 know we both suffer from allergies at least to some degree, 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:41.600 and you know what, the pollen count as high as 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:43.720 it's been today, felt like a good time to do 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:47.160 a show on what allergies actually are and and think 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:49.560 about how close we are to finding a cure for 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:52.680 different types of allergies, and also, of course answering the 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:55.680 question is putting vassoline up your nose a good life 0:01:55.680 --> 0:02:19.720 hack for stopping pollen? So let's dive in. Hekay their 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:22.480 podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:24.480 and as always I'm joined by my good friend manga 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:26.840 shot Ticketer and on the other side of the soundproof 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:30.400 glass keeping his allergies at bay by brushing his teeth, 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:34.280 of all things, that's our friend and producer Tristan McNeil. Now, Mango, 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.280 I'll admit I thought Tristan had lost his mind yet 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:39.919 again when he told us that he started treating his 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:43.280 allergies with toothpaste, But in doing our reading for this week, 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:46.120 it turns out it's a legitimate treatment, and Mango, you 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:48.079 can back me up on this, right. Yeah, it's a 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:50.960 real thing. It's called aller dent and it basically works 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:53.840 the same way as typical allergy shots, where you, you know, 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:56.040 inject a tiny amount of an allergen as a way 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:58.440 to get your body used to it, except in this case, 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:01.560 the allergen extract is exed into your toothpaste instead of 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:04.160 loaded into a needle. And it is just such a 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:07.680 remarkable idea. You know, I have allergies. I often forget 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:10.320 to take my medication, but I don't forget to brush 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:13.040 my teeth, and it seems like a simple solution plus 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:15.520 it feels way less daunting than going in for like 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:18.760 an expensive shot every single week. Oh definitely. I mean 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:20.800 the only downside right now is that it can be 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:23.120 pretty tough to get your hands on the toothpaste at 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:25.680 the current moment. And and that's because even though allergy 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:29.840 and extracts are FDA approved, it's only approved for shots 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:32.400 right now. But my guess is it won't be too 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:35.640 long before the toothpaste will be pretty easy to access. 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:38.720 But you know, as we shift from one allergy season 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:41.160 to another, we thought it might be a good time 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:43.920 to take a closer look at the world of allergies. 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:46.840 That's right, So we're gonna explore some unusual ways to 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:49.200 keep allergies in check, as well as the science behind 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:52.200 what causes them and even the history of why we 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:54.760 get them in the first place. But why don't we 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:57.160 start with what allergies actually are since we tend to 0:03:57.160 --> 0:03:59.840 throw around the term pretty loosely. Like often you'll hear 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:02.800 people say they're allergic to something when you know they 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:06.320 might have some kind of intolerance but not an actual allergy. Yeah, 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:08.920 like somebody might be lactose intolerant, but that's not the 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:12.360 same thing as being allergic to milk, or they might 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.480 have a sensitivity to gluten, but eating bread doesn't, you know, 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:18.320 make them break out in hives or anything. But let's 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:21.240 talk about what the actual distinction is and and first 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:24.120 of all, like what makes an allergy an allergy? So 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:27.279 the term was coined in nine six by pediatrician in Vienna, 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:29.400 and he came up with it by joining the words 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:32.520 for different and reaction, and the idea was basically, if 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:34.680 someone is allergic to pollen or whatever, they're having a 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:38.800 different or unusual reaction to something considered harmless. But the 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:41.760 thing that really defines allergies is their underlying cause. And 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.599 the reason we have such extreme reactions to these otherwise 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:48.960 harmless substances is because of a hypersensitive immune system. So 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:52.320 rather than targeting genuine threats like a virus, the immune 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:56.520 system misidentifies something safe as dangerous and in the process 0:04:56.560 --> 0:04:58.839 our our body takes these defensive measures to try and 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:02.320 expel the irritant as fast as possible. That's why you 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:04.640 get like a runny nose or you start sneezing, because 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:06.760 it's trying to get the stuff out. And that's what 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:09.560 we associate with allergies. But if you want to get 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:12.080 a little more scientific about it, these symptoms are the 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:16.359 result of a chemical called histamine, and when allergenic materials 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:19.440 bind to antibodies and the blood, the blood responds by 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:23.560 releasing tons and tons of histamine. The histamine then attaches 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:26.400 itself to cells in the nose and sinuses. It causes 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:29.240 all the blood vessels to expand, and it sends the 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:33.320 mucus production into overdrive, which is why we take and histamines. 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:35.200 You know, It's obviously one of those terms I think 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:37.599 we've always heard and we've known to take these things, 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:40.840 but not really thought about what that actually means. So 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:44.880 I get the general sense of what allergies are, but 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:48.480 is a peanut allergy the same thing as a pollen allergy, 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:51.800 but just like we're reacting to different substances or what 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:55.080 is it exactly? Yeah, So it kind of helps to 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:57.839 know that most allergies break down into two different groups, 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:00.840 and the first is called allergic rhind itis or this 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:04.080 is hay fever. And this category includes what we call 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:08.119 seasonal allergies, so things like pollen, mold spores, the stuff 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:10.760 that crops up in the spring and summer, and it 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:13.599 also includes perennial allergies that bug people all here, like 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:17.640 dust mites, cockroaches, and pet dander, all right, So this 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:20.719 is what most people think of when they think about allergies, 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:22.400 like the kind of thing that makes you sneeze and 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:27.279 itch and feel congestion or even be lethargic, I guess exactly. 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:29.919 But things get more serious with the second type of allergy, 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:32.560 which of those brought on by food and also like 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:38.200 animal venom medications, even contact with materials like latex. And 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:40.599 in these cases, the body is still responding to an 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:43.640 ireritant by pumping out the histamines, but it's at a 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:47.719 completely different pace. It's doing this way way more aggressively, 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:50.800 so much so that when someone with an allergy eats 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:53.680 shellfish or it gets stung by b they just skip 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:55.920 that itchy I phase we know about, and it goes 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:59.720 straight into anaphylaxis. And that's the severe situation where your 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:03.240 air ways close up, you swell, your throat and tongue 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:05.760 sort of swell as well, and your blood pressure tends 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:08.440 to drop. All right. So the process is more or 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:10.880 less the same for all kinds of allergies. It's just 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:14.520 that some prompt more extreme reactions than others, right, And 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:16.800 the thing to remember is, in either case, it isn't 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:19.880 the allergyen that's attacking your body. It's actually your immune 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:23.840 system overreacting. And even though we understand how the process works, 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:26.280 we don't really know how people develop allergies in the 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:29.520 first place. I mean, something is causing our immune system 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:33.000 to lose it, but we still aren't sure what that is. Yeah, 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.120 that's true, But we do have a couple of promising 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:37.000 leads on this. I mean, for one thing, we know 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:39.000 that our genetics play a factor in whether or not 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:42.200 we develop allergies. Actually, I was looking at this series 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:46.080 of twins studies that examine both fraternal and identical twins, 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:49.720 and the results were really interesting. So, first you take 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:53.320 fraternal twins and when one of them has a peanut allergy, 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:55.920 the rate of the other having a peanut allergy as 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:59.360 well was actually only about seven per cent. But you 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:02.000 look at idea of cool twins who share the same genes, 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:05.840 both twins were allergic in sixty percent of cases. So 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:09.680 it's a pretty significant difference, huh. I mean, there's actually 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:12.480 another reason to think of genetics as the root of allergies, 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.040 which is that the tendency to have allergies is actually 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:18.040 something we inherit from our parents. So you know, well, 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:19.960 that doesn't mean that like, because your mom has a 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:22.800 fish allergy, you're definitely gonna have a fish allergy. It 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:25.640 just means that, you know, you have a higher chance 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:28.720 of developing an allergy to something. H Well, I mean, 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:32.000 there's obviously something there, but genetics aren't the only factor. 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:35.680 And who does or doesn't get allergies And another big one, 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:39.360 not surprisingly is the environment. After all, if you aren't 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:41.880 exposed to a particular allergy and there's no way to 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:44.920 develop an allergy to it, Like you know, take somebody 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:47.560 who lives in the desert, I mean, they're not likely 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.480 to have a pollen allergy since there isn't much plant 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:53.720 life and pollen to even be exposed to their Yeah, 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:56.760 I mean the environmental component is interesting because it's sort 0:08:56.800 --> 0:09:00.040 of works both ways. Like, uh, the flip side is 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.839 that being exposed to common allergies can also reduce your 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:05.720 chances of developing an allergy to them. And the key 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:09.240 here is really being exposed an early enough age. Like 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:12.640 we've talked about this before, but a few recent studies 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:14.560 have shown that children who grew up on a farm 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:17.120 are less likely to develop allergies than kids who grew 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:19.840 up in cities. Well, and that's because the farm kids 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:23.560 were exposed to more allergens early on, right, That's right. 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:26.400 So a few years back, this science Institute in Belgium 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:30.520 found that exposure to farm dust actually helps build resistance 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:33.840 to dust based allergies. And this works because of a 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:37.000 protective protein called A twenty that's produced in the mucous 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:40.360 membrane of the lungs. And when kids breathe in farm dust, 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:44.120 their lungs produce more A twenty and this reduces their 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:47.120 allergic reaction to other kinds of dust. But, like I said, 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:49.480 the trick is that this kind of resistance is only 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:53.240 built up while the lungs are still developing. So I mean, 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:55.600 if you're like an adult who's allergic to dust bites, 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:58.319 it's a little too late to solve that problem by 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:00.920 going out and becoming a farmer. Now, man, I guess 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:03.240 I'll cross that one off the list. But you know, 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:07.160 it's interesting how much of an impact age has on allergies. 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:09.679 Like I was reading how adults tend to have fewer 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:13.720 allergies than children do, especially when it comes to food allergies, 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:17.120 and it's far fewer allergies actually, But according to the 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:21.400 Food Allergy Research and Education Organization, one in thirteen kids 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:24.440 in the US has at least one food allergy. But 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:26.760 over a quarter of those kids will outgrow the food 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:30.840 allergies before they even reach adulthood. And research shows that 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:33.680 the earlier a child has an allergic reaction to food, 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:37.280 the more likely they are to outgrow it, which is why, 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:40.280 you know, the consensus has actually shifted in recent years 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:43.680 about how soon babies should be given allergenic foods, things 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:46.679 like eggs or peanuts. And you know, we used to 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:49.600 think it was dangerous to feed infants these foods until 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:52.280 they were at least a year old. And this, you know, 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:54.559 hasn't been that long ago. I know, even when our 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:57.320 oldest child was an infant, they were telling us this. 0:10:57.480 --> 0:10:59.880 But you know, now a bunch of studies have proven 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:02.800 giving babies these foods when they're four to six months 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.960 old actually reduces the risk of developing allergies by as 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:10.400 much as I think, like eight. And the author of 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:13.079 the report puts it this way, you have the potential 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:16.400 to stop something in its tracks before it develops. There's 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:18.319 a window of time in which the body is more 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:21.160 likely to tolerate a food than react to it, and 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:23.800 if you can educate the body during that window, you're 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:26.880 at a much lower likelihood of developing an allergy to 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:29.720 that food, which makes a lot of sense, and it 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:32.520 also explains why some people continue to develop allergies well 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:36.040 into adulthood. And I guess that's because that's the time 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:38.640 when most of us are making big life changes. You know, 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:42.400 you're moving somewhere new, getting a pet, perhaps living on 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:45.120 the edge, and trying shellfish for the first time, starting 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:47.960 to get wild at that time, you know. But you know, 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:50.679 the thing I don't get is why the world's allergies 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:53.360 seem to be getting worse. You know, we've been reading 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:56.400 a lot about this, and these food allergist at Mount 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:59.360 Sina who spent the last couple of decades tracking peanut 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:02.719 allergies among children. And when they started this was back 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:06.280 in they found that one in two hundred and fifty 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:10.000 American children were allergic to peanuts. Now you fast forward 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:12.480 to two thousand ten and that number has jumped to 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:16.840 one in seventies, So that rate tripled in just thirteen years. 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:20.439 And well, it's true that food allergies are often misdiagnosed. 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:24.960 There's been a similariz in peanut allergies in countries like Canada, Australia, 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:27.720 the UK. And that's not even to mention you know, 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:30.600 the hay fever rise and asthma's on the rise and 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:35.520 these these same regions. So there's definitely something going on. Yeah, 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:37.720 some of the specifics might be up for debate still, 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:39.719 but there's no question that allergies have become a lot 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:42.720 more prevalent in the last thirty years or so. I 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:44.920 did some reading on why that might be, and one 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:48.840 of the biggest contributing factors seems to be rising global temperatures. 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:51.440 And I didn't want to believe this, but it actually 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:53.880 makes sense when it was explained to me. You know, 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:56.640 higher temperatures lead to more plant life, which leads to 0:12:56.679 --> 0:13:00.240 more pollen, and more pollen means more allergic reaction ends. 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:03.360 And in fact, a recent study found that the spring 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:06.160 pollen count has increased every year since the year two 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:09.680 thousand and listen to these numbers. By the year twenty 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:13.160 there could be twenty thousand grains of pollen per cubic 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:16.360 meter compared to just eight thousand grains in the year 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:20.320 two thousand. Yikes, that's a that's a huge difference. But 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:23.800 global warming is only counting for the rhinitis cases, right, 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:26.360 not to mention the more serious ones. So what's causing 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:29.040 an increase in in things like food allergies or or 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:31.959 even like bea stings. Yeah, so those keys are a 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:34.600 little tougher to account for, but the prevailing theory is 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:37.880 that they're linked to our modern hygiene practices and the 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:41.840 ideas that are modern sterile lifestyles don't provide enough exposure 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:45.200 to potential allergens, which in turn causes our immune systems 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:47.439 to get board start lashing out at all the harmless 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:50.480 stuff like food or cat dender or whatever else. And 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.080 while it's likely that there are other factors behind the 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:56.680 recent rise of allergies, the hygiene theory would explain why 0:13:56.800 --> 0:14:00.280 we mostly see this in predominantly wealthy westerns of id 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:03.240 s in less developed countries. You know, if your child's 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:06.360 immune system is struggling to deal with parasites from contaminated water, 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:09.760 then the body isn't wasting time or resources warding off 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:12.840 things like pollen. So if we go by the hygiene theory, 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:15.400 you can more or less chalk the whole allergy epidemic 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:19.120 up as basically first world problems. All Right, So at 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:22.560 this point, researchers have spent decades looking for a cure 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:25.280 for allergies, and the best option is still to just 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:28.800 treat the symptoms rather than cure the actual cause. But 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:32.440 thankfully we've got some pretty great options now, including some 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:35.320 of the more outside the box approaches, and we should 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:37.400 talk about those. But before we get to that, let's 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:53.880 take a quick break. You're listening to Parts and Genius, 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:55.880 and we're talking about the best ways to track and 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:59.440 treat your pesky allergies. So well, one of the most 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.880 effective and more obvious options for treating allergies is also 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:06.200 one of the most basic, and that's plain old avoidance. 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:09.280 And while that's pretty straightforward when it comes to food 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:12.440 or latex allergies, since you know, we generally have some 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.280 saying what we eat and wear, it's not as easy 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:17.760 to avoid things like pollen. And in those cases you 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:19.600 have to be a little more creative and a lot 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:23.160 more vigilant. Yeah, when you think about pollen allergies, I mean, 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:25.440 you really just want to minimize your exposure as much 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:28.360 as you can. For example, pollen counts tend to peak 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:30.920 between the hours of five and ten in the morning, 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:33.840 so if you can avoid the outdoors during that period, 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:36.160 you know, you might spare yourself some of the sneezing 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:39.320 and whether obviously plays a big role as well. In 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:42.280 those pollen counts. You've got the warm and windier days 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:45.440 being the worst and the cool and rainier days being 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:48.160 the best in in terms of the pollen counts. But 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:50.640 it doesn't mean you have to stay inside on those 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:54.120 nicest days. And one quick tip for braving pollen heavy 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:56.800 weather is to dab a little bit of assolene inside 0:15:56.800 --> 0:15:59.280 your nostrils, and what happens there is that, you know, 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:02.120 the pollen and hale just get stuck in there before 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:05.120 it can reach your airways, which is so weird. Like 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:07.960 someone actually told me to do that with key, which 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:11.760 is uh Indian clarified butter, and they promised it worked, 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:15.280 and I refuse to do it because it just sounded unbelievable. 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:18.760 And now I basically feel like I've got to try. 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:21.480 It's gonna be walking around with some some butter up 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:23.440 your nose and it's it's kind of like our our 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:26.120 friends Sean in college whose grandmother had the cure for 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:28.440 everything was just to like rub some butter on his neck. 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:31.680 So maybe there's something to this and we should just 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:34.920 try these things. Well. Another simple move is to check 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:38.480 the pollen forecast for your area during allergy season. And 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:40.960 some people don't realize this, but there's actually a National 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:44.800 Allergy Bureau and it posts the current pollen and mold 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:48.040 levels for different regions on its website. Yeah, so the 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:51.080 Weather channel does that as well, and Google even pulls 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:54.080 up that information automatically, like if you search for pollen 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:57.280 or allergy information in the area. Um, you can also 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:00.600 set push notifications on your phone so you will always 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:02.440 know when the pollen count starts to climb. I mean, 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:05.320 it's pretty amazing. Yeah, and it's definitely handy to have that, 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:07.320 But I mean, let's be honest, not all of us 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:10.639 have the option of staying inside whenever pollen is is 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:13.199 causing big problems, nor you know, do we have the 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:17.400 courage to face social situations with vasoline smeared up our noses? 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:20.680 And you know, so in those cases, and allergy sufferer's 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:24.600 best friend are the antihistamine medications that we talked about earlier, 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:27.359 and you can obviously find those at your local drug store. 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:31.480 Not The only problem is knowing which option to go with. Now, 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:33.879 the good news is that there really isn't a huge 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:37.520 difference between stuff like ben a drill or Zyrtec or clareton. 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:40.560 I mean, these are all antihistamines that work by binding 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:44.200 to the histamine receptors in your nose and sinuses. So 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:48.200 instead of histamines activating these receptors and making your nose run, 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:51.640 the antihistamines muscle them out of the way and actually 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:55.680 take their spots, which is interesting. But you know what, 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:59.919 what about the nasal sprays, Like, is one more effect 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:03.040 have then the other in terms of pills for sprays? Actually, yeah, 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:06.880 I mean those nasal sprays contain corticos steroids that ultimately 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:11.000 help control symptoms better than their capsule counterparts, And that's 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:14.080 because the sprays don't prevent histamines from binding to their 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:17.800 receptors like the pills do. Instead, they actually prevent yourself 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:20.480 from reacting to the allergen at all, which you know, 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:22.800 it means there's no chance for them to even produce 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:26.520 histamines in the first place. Now, the only downside to 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:30.560 these is that these corticosteroids take longer to become effective, 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:33.520 so those nasal sprays do work best, but only if 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:35.840 you start taking them a couple of weeks before the 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:39.560 allergy season actually hits. That way, the steroids will have 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:42.000 built up in your system, so they'll have an easier 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:45.280 time controlling that immune response when allergens do crop up. 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:49.240 So this is particularly fascinating to me because I am 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:51.720 lazy about using the spray, like I take it when 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:54.160 I remember, but it's good to know that you sort 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:57.160 of need to use it regularly to build up your tolerance. Yeah, 0:18:57.200 --> 0:18:59.840 and I was exactly the same way. But now a 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:02.960 third way to treat allergies is also the closest thing 0:19:03.000 --> 0:19:07.040 we have to a cure for them, and that's immunotherapy. Now, 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:09.720 the most common examples of this are the allergy shots 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:11.960 we mentioned at the top of the show, and these 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:14.919 work much like a vaccine would, but you know, a 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:18.639 patient is basically injected with trace amounts of whatever they're 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:22.159 allergic to, and gradually their body builds a tolerance to 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:26.119 the substance until the allergic reaction is either severely reduced 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:30.240 or even eliminated altogether. But of course this approach also 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:32.760 has its drawbacks. I mean, for one thing, the shots 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:35.399 have to be administered every week, and not only is 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:39.000 that time consuming, it can also be pretty expensive, and 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:40.800 you know, especially when you consider that this kind of 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:44.480 treatment can go on for five years or even longer. Yeah, 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:46.800 I mean that's what makes that toothfaste so exciting, right, 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:48.640 I mean, like, I love this idea that you might 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:50.760 be able to treat your allergies with tooth taste, and 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:54.280 that someday we'll be taking sun screen through pills instead 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:57.280 of having to apply it badly, Like, it's amazing all 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:00.240 these ways that we're going to be getting medicines. And 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:02.480 I've read a little bit about that too, in terms 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:05.280 of the sunscreen and pill form, and it's fascinating. But 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:07.400 all right, well let's go back to the toothpaste show 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:09.680 just for a second, because I'm still a little bit 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:12.840 unclear on how that works, Like how do the allergens 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:16.240 even make it into your bloodstream? So I was wondering 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:19.360 that too, like it must be less effective than a shot, right, 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:21.840 But it turns out that the mouth is actually a 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:25.439 perfect place to administer allergy mets, and that's because the 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:27.840 mucus membrane in the mouth has such a high immune 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:30.600 response level. It's trying to make sure that we don't 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:33.320 do something stupid like drink a bunch of poison, and 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:35.720 toothpaste isn't the only way to take advantage of this. 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:38.560 So for years Europeans have actually used this under the 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.840 tongue allergy drop that works the same way. The biggest 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:44.119 problem was that the drops can aggravate your throat or 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:47.400