Everyone knows the effect allergies can have on your body -- the sneezing, the runny nose, the itching. It might just seem like nature torturing you, but can allergies actually be a good thing?
Maybe, says Ruslan Med
Everyone knows the effect allergies can have on your body -- the sneezing, the runny nose, the itching. It might just seem like nature torturing you, but can allergies actually be a good thing?
Maybe, says Ruslan Medzhitov, professor of immunobiology at the Yale University School of Medicine. In an article published in the journal Nature written by Medzhitov and two of his students, he suggests allergies evolved out of a body's need to protect itself from environmental toxins. Though there's never been a clear cause found for allergies, Medzhitov said, one little-discussed theory is that the sneezing and other discomfort associated with allergic reactions is our bodies' attempt at repelling harmful agents.
"All these symptoms (of allergies) have one thing in common -- they are trying to get something expelled from the body," he said.
About 50 million Americans suffer from some sort of allergy, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.
There are actually two ways the body fights off potential invaders. Type 1 immunity -- which battles viruses, bacteria, fungi and similar organisms -- relies primarily on killing pathogens or infected cells. Type 2 immunity -- the category under which most allergic reactions fall -- protects against external environmental challenges by spurring the body's antibodies and other cells into action to fight the irritant.
Medzhitov's paper suggests that Type 2 reactions are the body's attempt to survey the environment for the presence of noxious substances. After the first exposure to such an element, the immune system gains a memory of the offending material. Thus, the next time the body gets even a hint of that substance, it replicates the allergic reaction as an anticipatory response to protect the body.
Medzhitov said these reactions can protect us from four categories of toxins: parasites, noxious chemicals, animal venoms and general environmental irritants. For instance, dust or certain detergents can be perceived by the body as environmental irritants. Thus, when we're exposed to dust, the body might produce more mucous (hello stuffy nose!) to protect us.
Not only are the reactions themselves protective, but Medzhitov said our desire to avoid itching, sniffling and the like can lead us to avoid environments that contain these potentially noxious substances. There's still more research to be done, but Medzhitov said the point of the paper is that allergies shouldn't be simply categorized as illnesses because of the way they make us feel.
"Just because allergic reactions are perceived as a nuisance, we perceive them as a disease," he said. "It makes a big difference when you go from thinking of something (as a) pathogen to think of it as something that can protect you."
He said this could cast allergy medications in a whole new light. "You may feel better, but maybe they're c