I’ve been reading a lot about the alpha-gal allergy since my brother came down with it.
Part of what’s remarkable about that is that it’s the only dietary allergy to something other than a protien yet identified. And we haven’t been able to peg down an exact mechanism for how that’s possible, how it works, or how it results from a tick bite. Since it’s a carbohydrate, initially they didn’t think the alpha-gal itself was the allergen. Though that now seems likely.
Other non-dietary allergies often involve non-protien compounds. But allergies to compounds significantly simpler than protiens are vanishingly rare. And in terms of something as simple chemically as nitrates, or even amino acids (like glutamate, MSG being another proposed allergy of this sort) there really isn’t much in the way of a plausible mechanism for them to cause an allergy. Or even interact directly with our immune system. And both nitrates (or at least related compounds) and glutamate are things our bodies make themselves, and it’s a little impossible to be allergic to something you’re made of.
So again vis a vis the alpha-gal, you got a really weird one. It’s a much simpler sort of molecule than you normally see with allergies. And while humans don’t make it, we make some really similar carbohydrates. So it’s a really weird one, it doesn’t quite fit with what we know about allergies. But it doesn’t seem to undermine any of it either.
Whoa there. I’m allergic to nitrites. Full stop. Sounds like @ChuckV has a different allergy, but I’m talking about tested and proven. Not sure where you got the nonsense that all allergies are due to proteins, but that’s simply not true. People have allergies to metals, salts, lime (the chemical, not the citrus), etc. Be careful when you’re writing these things for public consumption.
Food allergies. And I picked it up in nearly every credible source on the subject.
But there are other sorts of allergies. And consuming something that you have another sort of allergy to can often still cause a reaction. I’m for example pretty damn allergic to urushiol (which is apparently mostly hydrocarbons). And if I were to eat any, it would probably kill me. I’m also pretty damn allergic to bee and wasp stings, but I could probably drink bee venom and be just fine. And on the other side of it the kid with the peanut allergy isn’t getting contact dermatitis from legumes.
That’s why I said if, cause once you get outside dietary allergies I dunno. Like you said you can be allergic to some surprising things that are simple chemically. Like copper. But those sorts of things are both rare as a category of allergens, and rare in terms of incidence.
Not sure how nitrites are not a food allergy, but whatever. My allergist wasn’t surprised and said it’s not rare. So there you go. Sometimes reality and the internet collide and reality wins. Sometimes.
