Tick bites can cause meat allergies—up to 450,000 people in US may be affected

The allergy, called alpha-gal syndrome, came to light a little over a decade ago.

See full article...

 

[icosahedron]

I looked up the linked study describing the allergy and the abstract goes,

CAP-RAST testing revealed specific IgE antibodies to beef, pork, lamb, cow's milk, cat, and dog but not turkey, chicken, or fish.

What heathen out there is eating cats?!

 

[icosahedron]

My eldest child has a poultry allergy that sounds similar. It takes 3 hours after eating chicken or turkey, and they're emptying their stomach. It took us a while to figure out because of that 3 hour delay, and the fact that they're generally not a big meat eater. Interestingly, beef, pork, lamb, etc are all fine. It's not psychosomatic either. One time they asked for a corndog along with the other children, and my wife got one for everybody, thinking it was beef (deceptive advertising). 3 hours later, up it comes. It turns out that beef corndogs cost extra, and none of them realized it was a turkeydog. The kid can eat frites fried in duck fat, but isn't willing to run a duck protein experiment.

They're pretty happy being a vegetarian, with the occasional slice of bacon, so it's not a big deal.

Fwiw, I had a chicken allergy as a child - hives, swelling, the works - and outgrew it with puberty. So, if your child ever feels later on that they want to try chicken, it might be an option later in life.

 

[icosahedron]

What's interesting is that the B blood type tends to be more protected against alpha-gal as there is a strong molecular similarity. I believe the NIH study indicated a 5X risk of alpha-gal by not having blood type B. Just as interesting, blood type B makes one more susceptible to Malaria and Tuberculosis. Some interesting selective pressure there.

As someone of blood type B, with my only super power being resistance to alpha-gal, I can only hope Malaria/Tuberculosis don't make a comeback in the US. They're not making a comeback right? Right?

Which I suppose could mean that B-type antibodies developed in response to tick exposure (or some other biting thing that carried a similar parasite in the ancestral populations). Evolution is fascinating.

 

[icosahedron]

How do you know the plants aren't screaming out in pain and you just can't hear em?

In fact... one of the reasons I am not considering becoming a vegetarian for ethical reasons is that I think we've seen enough studies illustrating that plants have the ability to feel pain and communicate at least. And unlike a wild animal, the tree in your backyard can't run away when an arborist goes at it in an annual trimming ritual. Just because plants use chemicals we mostly can't distinguish to conduct their affairs doesn't make them any less alive or deserving of consideration. And since I have to eat something... it might as well be things I enjoy.

 

[icosahedron]

That is surely the worst case of false equivalence which I'll read today. I should close this thread, lest someone top it.

Well, I am not sure I see the moral difference between consuming an egg and an apple other than classifying chickens as somehow higher on the grand scale of living things because I can relate to them better on account of them being animals. I try to treat plant and animal foods with some respect - i.e., if an apple has a rotten spot, I'll cut that out and use the fruit rather than toss the whole thing away. If that makes you unhappy, it's a personal philosophy, which I am not pushing onto anyone else.

 

[icosahedron]

Yammo Timesuck?

Alex was not speaking sexually, either. He was saying when society collapses, he will eat his neighbor.

You'd think that with the vast amount of unfiltered information thrown at one daily, I'd be immune to disgust and yet, almost every day I seem to encounter a new detail I wasn't familiar with before and wish I didn't know still.