Hay fever is one of the most common health conditions affecting between 10 percent and 30 percent of all adults in the UK.
And this year, the general consensus is that this year's 'Hay fever' seems to be so much worse than previous years
In this blog post, we'll be sharing some tips to try and help you reduce some of your symptoms
The Hay fever process starts when pollen is breathed in. The body's immune system overreacts thinking it is a harmful substance and thus produces an antibody called immunoglobulin E (IgE) 2 to fight this perceived threat. So the pollen is the allergen.
The IgE binds to the allergen and stimulates the release of certain chemicals, in particular histamine, to flush the pollen out of the airways and it’s histamine causing inflammation and all the unpleasant symptoms. Hence why a lot of hay fever drugs are antihistamines as they reduce the production of histamine within the body.
Histamine itself can be found in some foods such as:
- Chocolate
- Yoghurt
- Soy sauce
- Vinegar
- Tomatoes
- Aubergines
- Cured meats
- Canned fish.
So it’s worth keeping a food diary and seeing if reducing these foods have a direct effect on your symptoms.
Foods that help
Adding foods with some antihistamine properties might be helpful too, foods such as:
- Pineapples
- Watercress
- Ginger
- Apples
- Pomegranate
Lastly there are some herbs with good research behind them and their effects on Hay fever. Some herbs such as Turmeric, Stinging nettle and Cat’s claw.
These can easily be consumed as tea and these three ingredients are also found in our Imm+ne blend which might be the reason some of our community members express some relief from hay fever from consuming the imm+ne blend.