Gentowa

Food of vegetable origin Cereals

Common cereal seeds are well known allergens. In addition to the sugar, they consistof proteins, which are most responsible for the allergic reaction. Barley, wheat, rye, corn, rice,oat and millet are counted here. The reaction by which the human body is allergic to proteinsof barley, wheat and rye – gluten and gliadin should be distinguished from the classicalallergic reactions. This disease is caused by innate metabolism anomaly.

Barley

is often planted cereal for it is not only a component of the food chain, but also acereal the liquors are made of. The patients allergic to barley products and often to liquorscross-react to ray and wheat. Be careful with the beer.

Malt, mostly made of barley, is a number of germinated, dried, and ground cereal grains. Atthis process it comes to changes. Many sugars and proteins of the original cereals aredenaturalised. In addition to the production of beer and whisky, the malt is being used also asan adjunct to cereals (flakes) and filling of different cakes.

Buckwheat

does not belong to the true cereals. In Europe it belongs to often used foodstuff.It is used in the pancake filling and other pasta (spaghetti, macaroni) and is part of many babyfood products. In Japan the buckwheat belongs to major allergens – it is often used in thenoodles.

Corn

comes from America, from which it spread to the whole world. It is used in a range offoodstuff products from corn flour, but also boiled – independently, or in salads. It is often acomponent of the baby food products. The corn flour fills many foodstuff products. Whiskeyof the bourbon type (USA) is made of corn flour.

Millet

is used in Europe not so often. It is used especially in Asia. For example in India it isconsumed more frequent than the wheat in European countries. Since it cross-reacts only rarewith other cereals, this type of cereal can be used as a substitution to patients who are allergicto wheat or rice.

Oat

belongs in the last decades to frequently used foodstuff – especially as an advantageousfibrous food adjunct for example in the form of flakes typically prepared for the breakfast.It is used in soups, sauces, yogurts and different types of foodstuff.

Rice

is a basic food component of more than half of the human population. It comprises 20%of all calories consumed per day in the world. The rice flour is used as a starchy filling in therange of food products. Fortunately it does not belong to often food allergens.

Wheat

probably belongs to the most used food components in the world. Starting withtraditional bread, bakery products, cakes made from leavened dough (Europe, NorthAmerica), unleavened baked goods and pancakes (South America, Asia), pasta like couscous(Africa, Near East), macaroni, noodles, pasta (Mediterranean) – we can find wheat products inthe whole world. Wheat is very often – as so called “hidden allergen” used in other foodproducts. It is added to sausages, various smoked meat products, chips, fast food products,sauces – (commercially sold for example soya sauce) and candies. Since the sensitiveness atwheat is not rare in the case of both, adults and children, it is necessary to avoid food productscalled fast food, where even the seller need not to be aware of the information on thepresence of the wheat flour!The patients allergic to wheat can replace the wheat with rice or corn flour products.

Legumes

To these wide spread food products the following can be counted: read beans, white beans,soya beans, lentils, peas, peanuts, gum Arabic, fennel, liquorice (black sweet) . In addition topeanuts, which can be regarded as the most important food allergen, the legumes do notbelong to often causes of allergic reactions.

The pollen catcher is placed on the roof of the building. (The building should besituated representative enough for its surroundings, from which the information is given, thusnot near a factory or a chimney).The pollen catcher (pollen toils) - is a barrel with a vacuum cleaner, which draws in the airfrom the room and directs its flow with the help of the jet onto the adhesive tape.

All caught elements, which the air consists of, get caught on the adhesive tape. The tape isfixed on the inside of the barrel, which turns around slowly (360 degrees in seven days).The tape is removed from the barrel after a week, and is finally cut into seven piecesthat stand for particular days of the week. The pollen, which is caught on the rape, is colouredand finally evaluated under the microscope. Of course, these evaluations can be done only bythe experts, who can recognise and define the particular type of pollen drain according to itscolour, form and size.In addition to the type of pollen, the measurement of the pollen in the air has beenevaluated, as well.

The results are converted into 1 cubic metre. It is important, since thepatients react clinically to certain amount of the pollen in the air. The plants and flowers differin the aggressiveness from each other. To start the symptoms of the allergic reaction, 50pollen grains in 1 cubic metre are usually sufficient. While in season, the pollen count isseveral times higher.The pollen station sends the information to the centre (Štrbské Pleso in SR), whichprocesses the information and sends them to the central office in Vienna. At the same time,once in a week, it distributes the information to several doctors and public mass media.

The pollen calendar

The central office in Vienna under Dr. Siegfried Jäger processes the data fromEuropean pollen stations on the basis of the information gained. It enables to publish thepollen calendar periodically. It is a document - a map, which covers the pollen in the air indifferent European countries according to the months of the year.The calendar is important for all sufferers. The up–to-date month by month situationof the area where we are living at can be found here.We can find here the pollen situation in other countries, as well, which plays a significant rolefor everyone who is planning to travel abroad.The summary of the pollens in our country is shown in the following picture. Thevacation guideline for the allergic people can be found in the chapter Allergy on the road.

● Instead of feather pillows and duvets, it is required to use those plastic ones withplastic covers, as well, which do not cause allergic reaction

● Frequent changing and washing of clothes is necessary. Animal allergens often settlein there and can cause irritations even outside the place, where the animal is

.● It is necessary to wipe the floor and the furniture with a damp cloth. For vacuumcleaning only the vacuum cleaner with HEPA (high efficiency particulate arresting)filter is suitable.

The one being allergic should not come into the contact with vacuumcleaning. If he/she has to clean with the vacuum cleaner, he should use the maskprotecting himself from the dust. The air disposal plant is appropriate; it is able tofilter almost all flying dust, though it does not remove all allergens.We have to be aware of the important fact that: although all these activities reduce theamountof allergens in the family surroundings, they can not be substituted for the removal of theanimal. Even the removal itself without a special cleaning of the house means that you willlive in the environment surrounded by clinical important amount of allergens.All mentioned allergens can be, of course, found in dust. The dust by itself is formed by smallgrains of inorganic material - silica, together with other inorganic and organic matters andmentioned organic matters.

The home dust of particular households or working places varies according to the way a houseor working place is furnished.Therefore the diagnosis is made with individual allergens. The term “allergic to dust” does notindicate our actual reactions, therefore has been ceased to be used.The life of allergic people is getting worse even by other harmful substances, which donot start the actual allergic process, but get worse its development.

Pollen information service

The most frequent factor, which causes and starts the allergic reaction, is pollen. Thepollen count in the air directly influences the clinical symptoms, whereas there is a directrelationship between the amounts of pollen in the air and the seriousness of the symptoms. The seasons, when the flowers are in bloom and hence the pollen count is higher, can bepredicted approximately according to the usual duration of blooming time of the particularflower, which is stated in all botanic guidelines.However, the pollen calendars do not always correspond to the real time a flower is in bloom.The real bloom period can differ from the assumption even in several weeks. Moreover thelevel of the air pollen is noticeably influenced by meteorological conditions (rain, wind, coldheat,etc).

The up-to-date information about the situation i.e. what is the amount of pollen grainsand what kind of pollen grains are in the air, are necessary for the doctor and the patient, aswell.Within the information as a part of diagnosis the important anamnestic information –worsening or bettering of the patient’s health within a particular period, follows.Even more important is this information for the planning and conduction of the medicaltreatment.

While the air contains “our” particular allergen in the sufficient amount, the clinicalsymptoms arise.This can be prevented by taking the medicine on time. Its advantage lies in the fact, that in“our” season we can adjust our daily schedule (less walks, travelling to clinically betterenvironment and so on).The pollen count started to be examined already in 1873 by the English doctorBlackeley.

He suffered the allergy himself, and hence was interested in the possibleconnection between the amount of pollen in the air and the clinical seriousness of the allergy.He placed in different levels small glasses covered by glue, which caught the pollen.The need of exact information let to the gradual establishment of pollen stations,which measure the amount of pollen and other substances in the air. In 1930s first stationswere founded in Canada and USA.