Are food allergies more common now? 6 Minute English

Neil: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil.

Rob: And, hello, I'm Rob.

Neil: In 6 Minute English we often talk about food,

don’t we, Rob?

Rob: Oh yes! And I love food. It’s a very important topic.

Neil: We know that too much of the wrong kind of food

can be bad for our health.

But there is another way that food can be harmful

for some people.

Rob: Yes, you’re right.

Some people have food allergies.

They can become very ill if they eat certain foods

such as peanuts, shellfish, milk and so on.

So, Neil, do you have any food allergies?

Neil: Fortunately I don't, but my daughter is

allergic to tree nuts,

and so she gets very ill if she eats those.

Rob: Oh dear!

Well, it seems as if there are more

food allergies these days,

or more people have them.

Or maybe it’s just in the news more.

Neil: Well, that’s a very interesting point because

that is the topic of this programme.

Before we find out more though, here is our question.

One of the most common food allergies is to peanuts.

Now, what kind of food is a peanut? Is it:

A) a vegetable

B) a nut or

C) a legume

Rob: Oh, come on! A peanut is a nut!

There’s a clue in the name there, Neil!

But that would be too easy, wouldn't it?

So I’m going to say that

I’ve got no idea what a legume is,

so that’s my answer. C.

Neil: I’ll have the answer at the end of the programme.

To help answer the question

as to whether food allergies are more common now,

here’s Dr Adam Fox, who was speaking

on The Food Programme on BBC Radio 4.

Does he think there has been an increase?

Dr Adam Fox: I think we can be very confident

if you look back over, say, 30 or 40 years

that there are much more allergic problems around now

than there were. So, for example,

very robust studies that look at

prevalence of things like eczema, food allergy

do show really significant increases over

20, 30 years, for example.

Neil: Has there been an increase?

Rob: Well, yes.

He says there have been significant increases.

This means there has been a 'clear and obvious rise'.

Neil: Why does he think that?

Rob: He said that there have been robust studies.

A 'study' is a piece of research and if you say a study is

'robust', it means that it was 'very detailed

and conducted thoroughly to a high standard'.

Neil: He said that these studies looked at the prevalence

of a few things.

'Prevalence' is a noun that refers to

how common something is, how often it happens.

Rob: One of the things they looked at

as well as food allergies was eczema.

This is a skin condition that usually happens

in childhood.The skin can get, red, itchy and painful over

different parts of the body.

Neil: Here’s Dr Fox again.

Dr Adam Fox: I think we can be very confident,

if you look back over, say, 30 or 40 years

that there are much more allergic problems around now

than there were. So, for example,

very robust studies that look at

prevalence of things like eczema, food allergy do show

really significant increases over

20, 30 years, for example.

Neil: So what is the reason for the increase

in food allergies? Is it genetics? Dr Fox again.

Dr Adam Fox: We certainly can’t put it down to genetics.

And we now understand that there is a key role for

eczema. So, there’s a pretty direct relationship between

whether you’ve got eczema during infancy

and your likelihood of getting a food allergy.

Neil: Is it genetics?

Rob: No, he says 'you can’t put it down to genetics'

which means 'you can’t explain it' by genetics.

Neil: In fact, according to the research,

if you have eczema as a child,

you are more likely to develop food allergies.

Here's Dr Fox one more time.

Dr Adam Fox: We certainly can’t put it down to genetics.

And we now understand that there is a key role for

eczema. So, there’s a pretty direct relationship between

whether you’ve got eczema during infancy

and your likelihood of getting a food allergy.

Neil: OK! Now, time to review our vocabulary, but first,

let’s have the answer to the quiz question.

I asked: what kind of food is a peanut?

Is it: A) a vegetable

B) a nut

C) a legume

What did you say, Rob?

Rob: I said C) a legume, because

that was only one I didn’t know

and it can’t be as simple as being a nut!

Neil: An inspired guess!

If you said C) legume, then congratulations.

Despite the name, a peanut is not actually a nut.

Rather conveniently though,

we don’t have time for me to explain exactly why

it’s not a nut, but I’m sure you’re smart enough

to look it up yourself.

Rob: So, you’re not going to explain it?

Neil: No, sorry, we don’t have the time.

Rob: Sounds to me like you’re allergic to hard work, Neil!

Neil: Nice link to today’s vocabulary.

We do have time for that.

Today we’ve been looking at the topic of 'food allergies'.

This is when a particular food

causes a medical problem.

Rob: The problem could be minor or it

could be very serious, even fatal

and these are called 'allergic reactions'.

Neil: The topic has been investigated

with 'robust studies'.

This is research that has been done in a very detailed,

accurate and thorough way.

Rob: The next word was the noun 'prevalence'.

This is used to talk about how common or how

frequent something is.

In this research, they examined the prevalence of

food allergies in certain age groups.

Neil: Closely connected to food allergies is 'eczema'.

This is a medical condition that makes your skin dry,

painful and itchy over different parts of the body.

Rob: It was reported that

there had a been a significant increase

in the number of people

suffering from eczema and food allergies.

A 'significant increase' is a big and important increase.

Neil: And finally we had the phrase

'to put something down to something'.

This means 'to say one thing is the reason for another'.

In this case, you couldn’t put the increase in food

allergies down to genetics.

Rob: You know what I put the success of

6 Minute English down to?

Neil: No, what's that, Rob?

Rob: Your great knowledge of different subjects

and skill as a presenter and communicator.

Neil: Well, that’s very kind of you…

but I still don’t have time to explain what a legume is!

In fact now it’s time to wrap up

this edition of 6 Minute English.

We look forward to your company again soon.

In the meantime, check us out in all the usual places,

online and on social media.

We are BBC Learning English. Bye for now!

Rob: Goodbye!