My somewhat disillusioning experience with American health care as a result of my wife’s sudden onset of Crohn’s disease symptoms has prompted me look outside “the system” for second and third opinions. I am currently researching immunology and allergy because of the experiences of a good friend who is recieving treatment from Dr. Shrader at the Santa Fe Center for Allergy & Environmental Medicine. The subject of alternative medicine is fraught with peril. Knowing this, and having already read some works in the field containing questionable deductions or spurious reasoning, I desired to put my inquiry into perspective. I have just finished a book – “Allergy: The History of a Modern Malady”, by Mark Jackson – that has been some help to me in that regard. I thought I’d share a bit about it.

The quote from The Independent on the face of the book itself is accurate praise: ‘Meticulously researched and well written.’ Jackson covers the recent history of the allergy phenomenon from social, cultural, environmental and (to a degree) medical perspectives. He begins with the coining of the term “allergy” in 1906 as a “convenient means of defining various manifestations of biological reactivity”. As the narrative progresses, that definition is revised substantially and the reader is introduced to the controversy that has surrounded the whole idea of allergy and etiology for at least a century. Thomas Beddoes’s 1802 analysis of comsumption as a disease of civilization, or “of our own making”, afflicting primarily the wealthy, becomes for Jackson an analogue representative of allergy and the place it has assumed in 21st century culture.

Among the many things I was surprised to discover through Jackson’s work are (1) how little is actually known for certain about the reactions between our bodies and the environment, (2) the ardent suppression of research on food and chemical sensitivity by pharmaceutical / agribusiness interests, along with the corollary: a great deal of emphasis placed on mass-applicative drug research and distribution, (3) the existence of current, quite possibly viable theories of immune system function which challenge the modern medical allergy paradigm. I am now less surprised that our gastroenterologist, for example, has mentioned nothing to us regarding possible food sensitivity issues (even though Crohn’s is a gut disease), nor even recommended us to a dietitian, because education on allergy in med school, even the strictly-defined IgE-mediated sort, and practical treatment of it in clinics has all but disappeared from Britain’s NHS – the nation where our doctor was educated. Not that the US is a great deal friendlier to the cause these days. In fact, all studies of “biological reactivity” and experimental practice that fall outside the realm of IgE and histamine / mast cell functions have been unfortunately relegated to “quack” status by the present establishment, despite the fact that thousands of people seek these “quacks” after disappointment with drug treatments designed only to alleviate symptoms, treatments which shed no light on underlying problems (see ch. 6 of “Allergy” for much more on this).

The study goes into such great detail on so many facets of allergy history that it’s impossible to even summarize it very well in a few paragraphs. Suffice it to say that I commend “Allergy” to anyone who desires perspective on modern medicine and the state of affairs with our present civilization’s common ailment. As the NewScientist review from 2006 states, “The bad news is that it is probably going to get worse. The good news? If you read this book, at least you will know why.”