To some, food allergies seem like fabricated cries for attention. For others, they pose a dangerous health threat. Food allergies are bound up with so many personal and ideological concerns that it is difficult to determine what is medical and what is myth. This book parses the political, economic, cultural, and genuine health factors of a phenomenon that now dominates our interactions with others and our understanding of ourselves. Surveying the history of food allergy from ancient times to the present, Another Person's Poison also gives readers a clear grasp of new medical findings on allergies and what they say about our environment, our immune system, and the nature of the food we consume. For most of the twentieth century, food allergies were considered a fad or junk science. While many physicians and clinicians argued that certain foods could cause a range of chronic problems, from asthma and eczema to migraines and hyperactivity, others believed that allergies were psychosomatic. Another Person's Poison traces the trajectory of this debate and its effect on public-health policy and the production, manufacture, and consumption of food. Are rising allergy rates purely the result of effective lobbying and a booming industry built on self-diagnosis and expensive remedies? Or should physicians become more flexible in their approach to food allergies and more careful in their diagnoses? Exploring the issue from scientific, political, economic, social, and patient-centered perspectives, this book is the first to engage fully with the history of what is now a major modern affliction, illuminating society's troubled relationship with food, disease, and the creation of medical knowledge. Reviews: "Dr. Smith has written a thoughtful, well-sourced, well-analyzed history of food allergies, his book is an important contribution to the history of medicine. It will stand as definitive for some time." — Carla Keirns, Stony Brook University "This exemplary study of the history of food allergy neatly demonstrates our understandings and experiences of food allergy across time. Combining historical depth with an awareness of the clinical and scientific dimensions of allergy, this is not only an assured study of the emergence of a modern medical conundrum, but also a rich and persuasive analysis of the importance of diet for health. It will provide historians, allergists and the public with much food for thought." — Mark Jackson, University of Exeter "Another Person's Poison is an insightful analysis of the controversies over the existence, definition, and treatment of food allergies. It details a complex and illuminating history of this puzzling condition through an astute examination of the interplay of the theoretical and the clinical, as well as the professional and the commercial. Smith's writing brings alive the contentious debates that Rcontinue to plague any discussion of food allergies." — Rima D. Apple, University of Wisconsin-Madison Contents: Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction: "Witchcraft, a fad, or a racket?" 1. Food Allergy Before Allergy 2. Anaphylaxis, Allergy, and the Food Factor in Disease 3. Strangest of All Maladies 4. Panic? Or the Pantry? 5. An Immunological Explosion? 6. The Problem with Peanuts Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index About the Author: Matthew Smith is a senior lecturer at the University of Strathclyde's Centre for the Social History of Health and Healthcare and was recently named a BBC New Generation Thinker. His previous books include Hyperactive: The Controversial History of ADHD and An Alternative History of Hyperactivity: Food Additives and the Feingold Diet.
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