Food allergies are a growing problem in the United States and record numbers of children now suffer from immune reactions to one or more foods. While organic food doesn’t cure allergies, an organic diet may reduce your risk of a severe allergic reaction.
Non-organic food sold in the supermarket can be doused with a long list of pesticides, fumigants and other chemicals that can cause allergic responses. Organic food is not allowed to be treated with those substances.
A case study reported in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), details a severe allergic reaction experienced by a 10 year-old girl who ate a piece of blueberry pie, even though she isn’t allergic to blueberries.
The problem occurred because blueberries (and other non-organic fruits) are often treated with streptomycin, an antibiotic drug given in humans to fight disease. It is used on fruit to stop the growth of algae, fungae and bacteria.
The girl who suffered the allergic reaction (an anaphylactic reaction) had asthma and hay fever as well as problems with penicillin and milk.
Her reaction was linked to streptomycin residues in the blueberries.
“As far as we know, this is the first report that links an allergic reaction to fruits treated with antibiotic pesticides,” says researcher Anne Des Roches, M.D., an allergist. “Certain European countries ban the use of antibiotics for growing foods, but the United States and Canada still allow them for agricultural purposes.”
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