Foods to avoid if you suffer from hay fever!

But can changing your diet and avoiding certain foods help you avoid constant runny nose and watery eyes?

MailOnline explores which foods you should stay away from if you don't want to make your cold worse.

old cheese

It's not good news for cheese lovers, as experts say the histamines in certain types of cheese can wreak havoc on hay fever sufferers. Histamine is a chemical that causes allergic reactions.

Normally, histamines are released when the body detects something harmful, such as an infection. It causes the blood vessels to dilate and the skin to swell to protect the body.

But in people with allergies, the body mistakes harmless things, such as pollen, dust, or animal hair, as a threat and produces histamine.

This causes the well-known allergy symptoms of itchy eyes, runny nose, sneezing and rashes.

But histamine is also present in some types of cheese, especially aged and fermented cheeses.

Histamine is created by bacterial microbes, which grow on the rind of aged cheese to help it ripen and protect it from harmful pathogens, according to a 2019 article published in Scientific Reports.

Dr Adrian Morris, an allergist at the Surrey Allergy Clinic, said: "If you have an allergy and you react to the pollen, you release histamines. If you then eat a food rich in natural histamine, you are likely to have slightly worse symptoms."

But, he added, not all dairy products cause this problem.

"It should be fermented from dairy products. You don't need to avoid fresh milk and cheese because it's not a problem with these foods," Dr. Morris said.

Processed meat

Dr. Morris said chicken livers, patties, processed chicken, and any leftover meat can cause a reaction.

He said, "They have natural histamines in them, so when you eat them, you fill your body with histamines." You could have a mix of them, and the levels might go up a bit. Most people metabolize it well and it's not a problem. But some people may sneeze more and experience itching."

He noted that fish including tuna, salmon, mackerel, caviar, pickled herring and oysters can boost your histamine levels.

How you cook these foods can also affect how well you experience hay fever symptoms, according to a 2017 Korean study published in the Annals of Dermatology.

Chocolate

It is believed that chocolate causes the worst enemy for hay fever sufferers - histamine.

Even without containing high levels of the chemical, some foods and drinks can stimulate mast cells in the body — found in the skin, lungs, nose, mouth, intestines, and blood — to release histamine.

Some foods can also inhibit the activity of the enzyme diamine oxidase, which is involved in the breakdown of histamine.

Chocolate triggers both of these processes, according to a 2007 article published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

This means that even though chocolate has a low histamine content, it can stimulate the release of histamines that are present in the body.

Chocolate also contains other biosynthetic amines — chemicals in food, including one type of histamine — that slow down the breakdown of histamine.

cantaloupe

A refreshing summer fruit may not be the best snack for hay fever sufferers.

Unrelated to the effects of histamine, Dr. Morris says, certain fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains can trigger hay fever symptoms.

Oral allergy syndrome, also known as food pollen syndrome, occurs when the body mistakes structured pollen for foods found in trees, grass and weeds.

This cross-reactivity means that the immune system recognizes a food protein as an allergen and creates an allergic response.

Symptoms can include swollen lips, itchy mouth, and itching of the inner ear.

A whole bunch of fruit can trigger this reaction, but watermelon is the main culprit for people with pollinator syndrome, because it's bad for those allergic to ragweed pollen.

Ragweed pollinators can also trigger a reaction from bananas, honey, chamomile tea, and sunflower seeds.

But these allergy symptoms vary from person to person.

"People with this condition will not react to all foods, but they may react to four or five of them," Dr. Morris said.

However, just like histamine in meat, how you cook your food matters when it comes to pollen allergy.

Dr Morris said: "If you cook the food you can reduce the allergy. People say when they peel a potato they get itchy hands and sneeze but if they eat a potato they are fine. This is because heating damages the protein so it's less of a problem." Source: Daily Mail

Iraq the birth of a child with a rare medical condition

A child was born with a rare medical condition in Shomali General Hospital, south of Babel Governorate, central Iraq.

"Today, the hospital witnessed the birth of a baby with milk teeth, which is one of the very rare cases," said the hospital's surgical officer.

"The child was delivered by caesarean section, and he is in good health," the official said.

In normal cases, most children start teething between the ages of 6 and 12 months, however, studies have reported that some children do not have any teeth at the age of one year.

Birth teeth are a rare condition, with one out of every 2,000 infants being born. These teeth are often small and weak, and their color tends to be yellow or brown.

Doctors still do not know the reason for the appearance of birth teeth, but they believe that it indicates that the infant suffers from health problems that have negative effects on the child's development.

These teeth may cause problems for the mother and the child related to breastfeeding, and scuffs that affect the child’s tongue as a result of friction, and the child may swallow the tooth if it falls, which leads to blockage of his airways.

In most cases, natal teeth do not need treatment, but your doctor may suggest removing them. Source: agencies

Modified Botox promises to relieve chronic pain in patients without the risk of crippling or addiction

Scientists have developed a modified form of Botox that can provide long-term pain relief in patients with persistent nerve injuries.

Botox is the brand name for muscle relaxants that are injected into the face in small doses to get rid of wrinkles. It is a protein made from botulinum toxin, which is produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum (C. botulinum).

Although small doses of botulinum toxin are generally safe, using this protein in large amounts is dangerous and can temporarily paralyze muscles.

Scientists from the United Kingdom and the United States designed modified Botox to relieve pain without causing paralysis or causing harmful side effects.

The effects of modified Botox, like its cosmetic uses, can last up to five months, although it has not yet been tested in humans.

The team said their work, published in the journal Life Science Alliance, could help provide relief to those who find it difficult to deal with chronic pain, as currently available medications are limited by serious side effects.

And drugs such as morphine and fentanyl can only be used for short-term pain relief because of the risk of addiction, abuse, and overdose associated with long-term use.

Dr Maria Mayaro, from the University of Reading, said: 'People with chronic pain need new options for managing their symptoms. They need safer and more effective medications. These new botulinum molecules are effective in reducing pain-like behavior in models of human pain. We believe this approach could It opens the way for the development of pain therapy to improve the quality of life of the millions of people who suffer from chronic pain."

Scientists from the Universities of Sheffield and Reading, University College London (UCL) and US-based biopharmaceutical company Neuresta have developed a new way to reconstruct Botox using elements from the bacterium Clostridium botulinum.

The team said it broke the Botox into two separate parts and reconstructed an "elongated" version.

When tested on mice, the team found that this modified Botox is non-toxic and does not cause paralysis.

Professor Pazbek Davletov, from the University of Sheffield's School of Biological Sciences, revealed: 'Currently, painkillers can only temporarily relieve chronic pain and often have unwanted side effects. A single injection of a novel non-immobilizing blocker at the site of pain can provide relief. pain for several months in humans, and that now needs to be tested."

"We hope that the engineered drug can improve the quality of life for the millions of people around the world who suffer from chronic pain," he added.

The research results led to the transfer of the technology to the US biopharmaceutical startup Neuresta, which is now adapting nerve blockers for different neurological conditions using this technology. Source: The Independent