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| Environmental pollution increases the incidence and severity of allergies. / Pixabay |
Spring arrives, the plants bloom, the streets of the city turn green again and the good weather arrives. But for 15% of the population (and up to 30% of young people) this segment of our planet's annual journey around the sun also brings an annoying drawback: springtime allergies.
A curious phenomenon occurs, and it is that the prevalence of these allergic diseases does not stop increasing year after year; people who had never suffered from them suddenly begin to experience them. The reasons behind this are varied and complex, but in large part, they are a direct result (once again) of the deterioration that human beings cause in the environment that surrounds us.
"There are people who manifest the allergy with 50 years"
"Yes, there is an increase in the incidence of respiratory pathologies due to allergies," confirms 20minutes Ana María Martínez Cañavate, president of the Spanish Society of Clinical Immunology, Allergology and Pediatric Asthma (SEICAP).
The expert points directly to the role of environmental pollution in this phenomenon: "Environmental pollution, for example by diesel, coats the pollen and causes it to be more aggressive for our body. It 'breaks' more and releases the allergens, which enter thus more easily in contact with the patient's respiratory tract".
This does not affect all people in the same way, but it does trigger the start of the process in people predisposed to it. "We come with a genetic load," explains Martínez, "a genotype that causes serial exposure to more powerful allergens or higher concentrations of allergens, over time and with age, to cause allergies. This explains why we see people who manifest it when they are 40 or 50 years old".
"The lifestyle we lead influences"
That there is a genetic predisposition, however, does not mean that people are predestined to necessarily suffer from allergies, or to suffer from them at a certain time. "Allergy is also revealed depending on the lifestyle we lead and what we have experienced over time. It is not just a specific fact, but there is a multifactorial that influences whether it develops sooner or later."
Even so, heredity continues to be the great predictor of the risk of suffering from pollen allergy: "Mainly, people with a family history are more at risk. For example, children whose two parents have allergies have a 30-40% greater predisposition to When only one of the parents has the allergy, the children are more likely to inherit it if it is from the mother: 35%, compared to 20% if it is the father".
"Then there is the exposure to pollen itself (which in children is usually limited, due to a large amount of time they spend indoors), the consumption of processed foods and poor compliance with the Mediterranean diet, and exposure to pollution (for, Therefore, the incidence is higher in people who live in cities than in those who live in the countryside)... And it has been shown that children who have greater exposure to infectious agents develop fewer allergies, provided that the use of antibiotics don't be older," continues Martínez.
"There are also urban legends that a higher incidence of allergies is related to vaccinations, the use of antibiotics, or exposure to fewer types of bacteria, but this has not been proven," he adds.
"The mask acts as a barrier"
In the end, the best way to prevent allergy (both its onset and, in patients who are already allergic, its symptoms) is to "avoid exposure to the allergen." This is what the expert points out: "Avoid being outside during the hours of the greatest concentration of pollen in the air, which go more or less from 10/11 in the morning until 8/9 in the afternoon, since that is when flowers open and release pollen; and avoid exposure on windy days.
Martínez even points to an accessory that with the coronavirus pandemic has become an old acquaintance: the mask. "They have removed the mask outside, but the recommendations of the scientific societies of allergies would be that they continue to be used since they act as a barrier to prevent the inhalation of pollen."
"Whoever can, also has the option of traveling to the beach. In coastal and high mountain areas there is usually less pollen than in the interior", he adds, "and, of course, then there are the treatments that each patient has what to bring."
Along these lines, remember that the importance of seeking professional help at any given time should not be underestimated: "Patients who have symptoms should go to the doctor for a specific treatment. Symptoms can be greatly minimized and go from the best possible way this springtime," he concludes.