Published on
Updated
Reading 1 min.
While the symptoms of pollen allergies are felt very early this season, nearly 50% of the world’s population is likely to be allergic by 2050, compared to 25 to 30% today.
If this shock figure is not new – the WHO regularly sounds the alert on this subject – the reasons that can explain this phenomenon are multiple. Dysregulation of our immune system, global warming, way of life, pollution… Update on these factors.
A “dramatic increase in the number of allergy sufferers”
While the majority of France is on “yellow” alert in the face of pollen (only the Mediterranean rim sees red and experiences a high level risk of allergy), the situation is likely, in the years to come, not to improve. arrange.
Indeed, the frequency and severity of allergies is constantly increasing: in less than 20 years, the number of anaphylactic shocks has thus quadrupled.
“There is undoubtedly a dramatic increase in the number of allergic“, confirms Sophie Silcret-Grieu, allergist in Paris, on France info.
In question ? Our way of life marked by a growing concern for hygiene – a phenomenon that has been accentuated during the pandemic.
“The main reason is our Western way of life with its hygienist obsession. From birth, we are hyperprotected and this does not promote the development of our immune system. This system must learn to react, to shape itself according to encounters with microbes, parasites or allergens. However, in our current overprotected world, we reduce exposure to risks and we reduce our immune defenses at the same time.reveals doctor Olivier Michel, pneumo allergist, at the microphone of RTBF.
Global warming, a factor favoring allergies
This year, the particularly mild and dry weather conditions would have favored “flowering trees“, estimates Samuel Monnier, engineer at the RNSA.
“What is important to underline are the quantities of pollen emitted (…) which are very high“, he confides to our colleagues from France Bleu.
Finally, exposure to moulds, chemical pollutants, carbon dioxide emissions, ultra-processed foods or even smoking can play a role in the development of allergies.