ALLERGY SEASON
Dear HIW, I have hay fever, but no one else in my family has it. What causes this? Sarah Anderson
While allergies are often hereditary, this isn’t always the case. Many environmental factors can cause you to develop hay fever, an allergic reaction to pollen that usually impacts people in spring and summer. Sometimes a person’s genes can make them more susceptible to developing allergies. A parent could have this gene but never develop hay fever, while you could show symptoms from an early age or not experience hay fever until your adult years. Some environmental triggers that could cause someone to begin to develop hay fever include moving home to an area with high pollution and a diet change to more meat, dairy and alcohol due to high histamine levels in these products.
One in four people have hay fever in the UK