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  Food Allergen Detector

History

430-370 B.C.

  • People had strong immune systems.                    
  • Sometimes, innocent hosts were accused of poisoning their guests if they had an allergic reaction.
  • Allergies were thought of as non-existent.
  • Hippocrates and other Greek philosophers noticed that some foods made people sick.
  • “Most [food allergies] are curable by the same means as those by which produced.”- Hippocrates
 

Fifteenth Century

  • Some doctors figured out the correspondence between the allergens and the violent reactions, but most didn’t know how to treat them.
  • Some treatments required patients being bled.
  • Fun Fact- King Richard III knew he was allergic to strawberries, so he ate them before a meeting with his ex-best friend, Lord William Hastings. When Richard III started swelling and developing hives, he accused Hastings of putting a curse on him.

1800s and Beyond

  • Dr. John Bostock accurately described hay fever (seasonal allergic rhinitus) as a disease that affected the upper respiratory tract. Hay fever affects more than 15 million Americans.
  • Charles Richet and Paul Portier invented the word 'anaphylaxis' when they discovered this life-threatening response to medications and protein substances. Anaphylactic shock occurs within minutes after allergen exposure.
  • Clemens von Pirquet first used the word 'allergy' to describe the strange, non-disease related symptoms that some patients developed when treated with a horse serum antitoxin. The word comes from the Greek word 'alol', meaning, 'change in the original state.'

 

 


Either due to

existence of strong

immune systems or

due to ignorance,

food allergies

weren't understood

till 1800s.