Ep.29 - Matthew Smith - Food allergy Before “allergy”
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English - June 10, 2020 20:02 - 50 minutes - 40.8 MB - ★★★★★ - 3 ratingsScience Health & Fitness Medicine medical history medicine rcpe royal college physicians edinburgh lectures Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
How were bizarre reactions to food described before the coining of the term ‘allergy’ in 1906? Symptoms reminiscent of food allergy have been observed since Ancient Greece and Rome, with Lucretius stating that one person’s food could be another’s poison. Many physicians were convinced that reactions to food were responsible for symptoms ranging from asthma to migraine. At the root of debates about food allergy were questions about the value of patient testimony and the difficulty in proving the link between food and chronic reactions, issues that remain to this day.
Speaker: Dr Matthew Smith (University of Strathclyde)