In the last few decades, there has been a huge increase in allergy and allergic reactions, but why? Just what has changed in our health and environment to bring this about? Consultant NHS allergist Dr Sophie Farooque discusses one of the biggest puzzles in medicine.

For example peanut allergies were almost unknown before the 1990s, but today it and other food allergies are much more common. Sophie reveals the best thing to do to stop a child developing a food allergy is - perhaps counter intuitively - to ensure that from an early age, they are exposed to a wide variety of foods, including potentially hypoallergenic ones.

And Sophie discusses how children with eczema are at increased risk of developing a cascade of other allergies, and what parents and doctors can do to minimise this risk.

She explains why if you are allergic to one cat you will probably be allergic to all, but why that’s not necessarily the case for dogs. It turns out that cat allergen is one of the most powerful allergens of all, and remarkably resilient. Amazingly, it has even been found in Antartica.

And for those parts of the world where it's the start of spring and many are starting to suffer from hay fever, she explains why she recommends nasal rinses and steroid sprays, but says patients should stay away from nasal decongestants and hay fever steroid injections.

The link below gives the BSACI's (British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology) advice on early weaning to avoid food allergy),and the BSACI website also contains lots of other information about allergies in general.

Preventing food allergy In your Baby

The host of the podcast, Liz Tucker is an award winning medical journalist and former BBC producer and director. You can follow Liz on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lizctucker and read her Substack newsletter about the podcast at https://liztucker.substack.com

If you would like to support this podcast you can do so at patreon.com/whatyourgpdoesnttellyou or via PayPal at https://www.patreon.com/

Dr Jason Fung argues that much of what we think we know about weight loss is simply wrong.

Jason says that the critical factor in losing weight is hormones - not calories. He believes calorie counting is an overly simplistic approach. And that actually dieting may be the worst thing you can do, because it slows your metabolic rate which actually makes it harder to reduce weight in the future.

Jason argues medical science reveals that we all have what is effectively a fat thermostat in our bodies that tries to keep our body within a particular weight range. Try to reduce weight below this and our metabolism will do its very best to sabotage our diet, making it harder for us to lose weight and easier for us to regain it.

If that’s the case, is there anyway we can reset this internal fat thermostat, so that we can lose weight? Or are we doomed forever to be caught in a vicious circle of dieting and weight gain?

Jason argues there is a solution. And it involves both changing what eat and when we eat.

Jason who is based in Toronto, Canada, is a kidney specialist and an expert on intermittent fasting. He believes that many of today’s chronic medical issues are related to diet and obesity. And says that a dietary problem needs a dietary solution. He is the author of a number of best selling books, the scientific editor of the Journal of Insulin Resistance, and the managing director of the nonprofit organization Public Health Collaboration (Canada).

The host of the podcast, Liz Tucker is an award winning medical journalist and former BBC producer and director. You can follow Liz on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lizctucker and read her Substack newsletter about the podcast at https://liztucker.substack.com

If you would like to support this podcast you can do so at patreon.com/whatyourgpdoesnttellyou or via PayPal at https://www.patreon.com/WhatYourGPDoesntTellYou

Beth Zupec–Kania is a dietician and nutritionist, who has spent over 30 years developing very low carb - otherwise known as ketogenic diets - to treat a range of both physical and mental health conditions. She has worked with many of the leading neurologists and psychiatrists pioneering this field.

I heard Beth speak at a conference Metabolic Psychiatry: Understanding How Modifying Metabolism Can Create Mental Health last November. I was very keen to get her on the podcast, because I’ve now done several episodes about the use of ketogenic diets to treat different illnesses. And so many people have asked me about the practicalities of following this dietary approach, so Beth seemed the perfect guest to discuss these issues.

She explains her particular keto strategy. Critical to this is transitioning slowly to avoid what is sometimes known as "keto flu"; the role of medium chain trigleride oils, MCT for short; and the inclusion of Beth's own specially designed smoothie recipe. The podcast will be making Beth's recipe available to all mailing list subscribers a week after the podcast has gone live.

The host of the podcast, Liz Tucker is an award winning medical journalist and former BBC producer and director. You can follow Liz on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lizctucker and read her Substack newsletter about the podcast at https://liztucker.substack.com

If you would like to support this podcast you can do so at patreon.com/whatyourgpdoesnttellyou or via PayPal at https://www.patreon.com/WhatYourGPDoesntTellYou