I’ve never been so happy to have medical conditions. First, a legitimate excuse to eat fry ups. Then more reading through my Google Alerts, this time on allergies, brings us to this:
A new article in the December issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology provides strong evidence that allergies are much more than just an annoying immune malfunction. They may protect against certain types of cancer.
Yes indeedy. There has been much research into whether allergies aid, hinder, or do nothing to the body when trying to deal with cancer. Previous studies have suggested that all of the afore mentioned options may be the truth. so a team at Cornell University set off on a review of around 650 pieces of work.
The conclusion? Allergies seem to beef up the immune system, so as well as getting rid of infections it also becomes a pretty efficient way of shifting harmful stuff (like carcinogens and for some reason milk) away from organs which come into “direct contact with matter from the external environment”, like the GI tract and, apparently, the cervix (if only I had one to avoid becoming cancerous). Unfortunately:
Such inverse associations were found to be far less likely for cancers of more isolated tissues like the breast, meningeal brain cells and prostate
Better keep bashing the bishop for a long and healthy life, chaps.
