| Food Allergies: Rare but Risky
Do you start itching whenever you eat peanuts? Does seafood cause your stomach to churn? Symptoms like these cause millions of Americans to suspect they have a food allergy. But true food allergies affect a relatively small percentage of people: Experts estimate that only 2 percent of adults, and from 2 to 8 percent of children, are truly allergic to certain foods. Food allergy is different from food intolerance, and the term is sometimes used in a vague, all-encompassing way, muddying the waters for people who want to understand what a real food allergy is. "Many people who have a complaint, an illness, or some discomfort attribute it to something they have eaten. Because in this country we eat almost all the time, people tend to draw false associations between food and illness," says Dean Metcalfe, M.D., head of the Mast Cell and Physiology Section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Pregnancy complication linked to protein pair
Two proteins secreted by the placenta may be responsible for virtually all cases of pre-eclampsia, a severe complication of pregnancy that can be fatal to mother or baby, researchers reported last week. Abnormally high levels of the proteins could be used to predict the development of the disorder weeks before symptoms occur, experts said, and the findings suggest new ways to treat the problem. A World Health Organization team is beginning to organize a test of the proteins' predictive value among pregnant women in the Third World, and Fremont, Calif.-based biotech company Scios Inc. is looking for money to test a potential treatment. "This finding appears to be an important step in developing a cure for pre-eclampsia," said Dr. Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health.
Japan sighs with relief over birth of a prince
Japan's Princess Kiko gave birth Wednesday to the royal family's first male heir in four decades, easing a succession crisis and quelling an emotional political debate over whether to allow women on the throne. Kiko, 39, underwent a Caesarean section at a Tokyo hospital, bearing a boy who is third in line to the throne after Crown Prince Naruhito and Kiko's husband, Prince Akishino, 40. The baby's name will be announced Tuesday. The arrival of a new prince -- Emperor Akihito's first grandson -- defused a succession dilemma in the coming generation of the royal family, which traces its roots back some 1,500 years. The news was cheered by many Japanese, who still maintain an enduring respect for the imperial family more than 60 years after the late Emperor Hirohito renounced his status as a divinity at the end of World War II.
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