Are we becoming more allergic to food?
食物过敏越来越常见的原因
Do you love food? Whether you're a foodie or someone who just likes eating, there is so much to choose from. We know that too much of the wrong kind of food can be bad for our health, but for some people having a food allergy means eating certain things can actually be harmful - and now, it seems, this is affecting more and more of us.
你爱吃吗？无论你是美食家还是喜欢吃的人，都有很多选择。我们知道太多有害健康的不适当的食物，但对有些人来说，食物过敏意味着吃某些东西实际上是有害的——现在看来，这正影响着我们越来越多的人。
An allergy is caused by the immune system fighting substances in the environment, known as allergens, that it should see as harmless. Food allergies can cause life-threatening reactions, which means people have to spend their lives following strict dietary restrictions and worrying about the ingredients of everything they consume. Allergy specialist Dr Adam Fox says "if you look back over, say, 30 or 40 years… there are much more allergic problems around now than there were."
过敏是由免疫系统对抗环境中的物质引起的，这些物质被称为过敏原，其本身应该是无害的。食物过敏可能导致危及生命的反应，这意味着人们必须遵循严格的饮食限制，并注意所吃的所有东西的成分。过敏症专家亚当·福克斯博士说：“回过头看看30或40年前……现在的过敏问题比过去多得多。”
We often hear about people having allergies to dairy products and to peanuts. Last year a 15-year-old girl died after suffering a fatal allergic reaction from eating a baguette containing sesame seeds. This led to a call for better food-labelling laws.
我们经常听说有人对乳制品和花生过敏。去年，一名15岁的女孩因食用含有芝麻的长棍面包而引发致命的过敏反应而死亡。这引发了人们对更好的食品标签法律的呼吁。
Research has found that this problem is particularly affecting children. More and more of them are having allergic reactions to certain foodstuffs. Writing for the BBC website, Dr Alexandra Santos from King's College London says "food allergy now affects about 7% of children in the UK and 9% of those in Australia, for example. Across Europe, 2% of adults have food allergies."
研究发现，这个问题对儿童的影响尤为大。他们中越来越多的人对某些食物有过敏反应。伦敦国王学院的亚历山德拉·桑托斯博士在为BBC网站撰写的文章中说：“例如，现在英国7%的儿童和澳大利亚9%的儿童受到食物过敏的影响。在欧洲，有2%的成年人对食物过敏。”
So what might be the cause? Dr Santos says the increase in allergies is not simply the effect of society becoming more aware of them and better at diagnosing them; it seems to be more environmental. She says possible factors are "pollution, dietary changes and less exposure to microbes, which change how our immune systems respond." She points out that it's very common for migrants who move to another country to develop asthma and food allergies in their new location.
那么造成过敏的原因何在？桑托斯博士说，过敏症的增加不仅仅是因为社会对过敏症有了更多的认识，对过敏症有了更好的诊断;而这似乎和环境的关系更大。她说，可能的因素是“污染、饮食变化和接触微生物的减少，这些都会改变我们的免疫系统的反应。”她指出，移民到另一个国家后，在新地方患上哮喘和食物过敏是很常见的。
A lot of work is being done to try and find a cure, but that's not easy. So for now allergy sufferers must watch what they eat and they must rely on clear and accurate labelling.
人们正在做大量的工作试图找到一种治疗方法，但这并不容易。所以现在过敏患者饮食时必须注意，他们不得不依赖于清晰准确的食品标签。
词汇表
foodie
“食客”，爱好美食的人
allergy
过敏反应
harmful
有害的
immune system
免疫系统
allergen
过敏原
life-threatening
致命的
reaction
反应
dietary restriction
饮食限制
ingredient
（食品）成分
consume
吃、喝
dairy
奶制品的
peanut
花生
allergic reaction
过敏反应
diagnose
诊断出，查出
environmental
和环境有关的
dietary change
饮食变化
microbe
微生物，细菌
asthma
哮喘
a cure
治疗方法