Best Food for Hay Fever (Seasonal Allergies)

A “great deal is asked of our immune system. It is first required to respond rapidly and violently to invaders, but at the same time limits both the duration of its response and the collateral damage to the host.” Anaphylactic shock, which is “defined as a serious allergic reaction that is rapid in onset and may cause death”—like when someone with a peanut allergy dies after eating one—is an example of an overactive immune response. The flipside is an underactive immune response, which can put you at risk for infection.

If you suffer severe trauma, for example, it’s not enough to get to a level 1 trauma centre. Death related to sepsis, or blood infection, is still a major problem, and a “primary factor in the development of sepsis is depression of host-immune response after severe injury”—that is, depression of our own immune system, caused by the stress of the trauma. Researchers tried to stimulate immune function in trauma victims by injecting them with beta-glucan, a type of fibre found in yeast. Most of the subjects were car crash victims, but some suffered from gunshots and stab wounds. Not only did the beta-glucan group suffer less sepsis overall, but they also had five times fewer complications and no deaths, compared to nearly one in three deaths in the control group.

If beta-glucans are so immunostimulatory, though, might they increase inflammation and worsen allergies? Actually, dietary yeast may offer the best of both worlds, possessing both anti–inflammatory and anti-microbial abilities.

Researchers performed a nasal provocation test with tree pollen and then siphoned off some mucus. The subjects who had been taking beta-glucans had lower levels of some inflammatory compounds. Based only on that finding, the researchers suggested beta-glucans may help people with hay fever—but you don’t know until you put it to the test.

A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study compared the effects of daily supplementation with about a teaspoon of nutritional yeast’s worth of beta-glucans versus placebo for a month “on physical and psychological health attributes of self-described ‘moderate’ ragweed allergy sufferers.” The ragweed family is one of the leading causes of hay fever. When you give people a placebo, nothing much happens. In contrast, the beta-glucan group experienced a significant drop in symptoms and symptom severity: fewer runny noses, fewer itchy eyes, and fewer sleep problems. It’s no wonder they also had less tension, less depression, less anger, less fatigue, less confusion, and more vigour. Improvements in allergy symptoms, overall physical health, and emotional well-being with the beta-glucans found in just a single teaspoon of nutritional yeast, which would cost about 5 cents a day.

Dr. Michael Greger  M.D. FACLM

www.nutritionfacts.org