Allergies Protect Against Cancer

Filed in archive Allergy: Research and Development , Dust Mite Allergies , Hay Fever , Living with Allergies , Skin Allergies on November 13, 2008

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Guillermo Perales Gonzalez

They say to every cloud is a silver lining. Next time you're having a bout of allergy attacks, instead of cursing your overreacting immune system, think of it this way: those sneezing fits could be protecting you from cancer. A new study published in the latest issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology suggests that allergy symptoms may protect our organs against cancer by expelling foreign particles, some of which may be carcinogenic or carry absorbed carcinogens. They think that allergies are like early warning devices that let people know when there are toxic substances in the air that should be avoided.

[snip]... the Cornell team reexamined nearly 650 previous studies from the past five decades. They found that inverse allergy-cancer associations are far more common with cancers of organ systems that come in direct contact with matter from the external environment-the mouth and throat, colon and rectum, skin, cervix, pancreas and glial brain cells. Likewise, only allergies associated with tissues that are directly exposed to environmental assaults-eczema, hives, hay fever and animal and food allergies-had inverse relationships to cancers.

The next question that begs to be asked then is: if they have anti-cancer benefits, should allergic reactions then be suppressed or treated with antihistamines and other allergy medications?