I don't know whether this is a symptom of an allergy. My face sometimes gets hot when I eat peanut butter. The thing is, sometimes it does not get hot. I am really confused. Should I consult with a physician about this?

Ji Han Hyo, Chang Won, Korea

Since 1976 I have been allergic to garlic. The allergy takes the form of stopping me breathing when exposed to freshly cut garlic. If it is cooked into a curry,for example, where I can't taste it, 11 hours later I get a blinding headache and severe stomache upset which lasts for 24 hours. If anyone has any ideas how to cure it I would be most grateful. I just have to avoid it at the moment, an I hate those TV chefs who throw loads of garlic into everything and say 'it's good for you'.

m wilson, bidache, france

it seems rubbish to say we are too clean and are not being exposed to germs. has no one seen the cleaning shows on tv that show just how many germs there are everywhere from phones to computer keyboards to train handles seats. unless you live in a bubble you are getting expoosed by touching things by breathing in the air.
much more likely that the pesticides e no's and gm products slippings into our food chain are causing this new surge in allergies. prof malcolm hooper does a very interesting article on this.
i was reading in soil news that gm products are being fed to livestock and then we eat the livestock unkowingly absorbing the gm products. they also go on to give results of mice fed on gm products and the health problems they exibited after eating these were not pretty in fact the number that died was also a bit of a worry.
the e no's on our foods should have the health hazzards listed as they would do in medicines.

julia, reading, england

I never had any allergies as child or afdult and more or less ate as anything I liked well did have a few reverese reactions to alcohol. Recently I had an anphalactic shock and had to be treated in teh A&E department luckily I took a taxi straight there owing to severe symptoms. The only thing id eaten that evening was some mushroom on toast concoction froma pub menu I wil not now tocuh mushrooms though I had always eaten them oreviously. I;m not sure it was the mushrooms but they are my prime suspect.

elaine eveleigh, Bristol, UK

It's because people are not cleaning anymore.
It's mould spores and fecal matter from tiny bugs and mites in our homes.

Just watch "How clean is your house" with Kim and Aggie!

Ashtoinan, Burbank, California

Can't help but feel someone on this committee has a bit of a personal gripe here, this is the second 'damning report' on 'allergy in the UK' (sex pistols anbody?) in the past 12 months & whilst 20 deaths a year from food allergies is a tragedy for those people & their families, when compared to other causes of mortality it is minor. Asthma & hay fever should not be lumped in with 'allergy' - it has been suggested that lower levels of allergic asthma in some European countries have more to do with their tiled floors than their health care system, so tear out your carpets might be a better answer than carping about the NHS.
And for all our European friends who are so disatisfied with with the standards of healthcare compared to their faultless homelands, politeness forbids me from suggesting an obvious solution..........................

JH, Bath,

From all the articles published on the subject of allergies, particularly with regard to those about asthma, eczema, and rhinitis, it is stunning that some of the simplest, most effective and least costly measures are ommitted from the reams of "advice given. It's simple - GET YOUR MATTRESS CLEANED. Every night in bed we provide dust mites with the perfect habitat; they feed on our skin flakes & sweat, & produce allergens to which we then react, resulting in a deteriorating health cycle which effects all walks of life. We may be hygiene-mad, but one of the most used items in any household is one of the most overlooked when it comes to cleaning regimes. Mattress covers are often advised - but it has been clinically proven that as a sole measure, they are ineffective and can compound the problem. The use of acaricides aggravates chemical allergies; so we look to expensive drugs and potentially dangerous treatments. Sometimes the simplest solution really can be the best!

A Brocklesby, Scarborough, UK

Years ago I was told that my uncle was allergic to strawberries and that his mouth swelled up if he accidentally ate one, so allergies have been around for a while.

I do dislike all these spray household cleaning fluids though. They spray the stuff everywhere in the air, which means the chemicals are breathed into the lungs in droplet form instead of just staying on the bath, table or whatever. I always try to find cleaning fluids without spray tops such as cif, I actually think it's best to use a damp cloth or maybe a bit of washing up liquid instead and skip the harmful spray-on chemicals.

Caroline, Orpington, UK

This report is absolutely true- GPs seem happier to perscribe inhalers/ medicines rather than actually treat/ diagnose allergies. The reality is if you want treatment you should either go to an very expensive private clinic in London or you can do what I did and go to Belarus and receive treatment for $35. They were able to tell me what my allergy was and gave me a course of injections which have worked.

barry dupont, brighton, east sussex

This has not been my experience - I have 3 nut allergic children. Our GP was very helpful from the start, we were referred to an allergy unit very quickly (although admittedly repeat appointments have had very long waiting lists) and all the schools have had good procedures. Food labelling in the UK is generally good apart from one or two manufacturers (Nestle and Walls spring to mind) who design their packaging for the wider continental European market, but they are the exceptions rather than the rule. Almost all the cafes and restaurants we have visited in the UK have been well informed and have been able to advise us which foods are safe. Contrast that with our experience in Spain, Austria and France where similar enquries at restaurants produced blank looks and, on several occasions, nutty food (maybe they thought sprinkled on was somehow different to containing nuts?).

Anne, London,

Living in Bath, I suffer from an allergy which is exacerbated by the local widely-recognised traffic pollution - a topic the authorities fight shy of tackling head on.

Air pollution triggers food intolerances, I have found to my cost, as the body finds it all too much to deal with and begins to reject otherwise harmless foods as it goes into overload.

I cannot now work in an office or sit in an air conditioned area for long before I start coughing. My career has been stopped in its tracks and I spend my time trying to fathom which foods trigger my coughing - or if indeed it is food to blame or just the embedded particulates of traffic fumes already in my lungs. (I have never smoked.)

I have been diagnosed as having no food intolerances (which I most definitely have), but have oesophageal reflux disease. The local pharmacist says these are all connected, but the specialist says not. It is totally confusing and have asked for help from an allergy specialist, to no avail.

Annie, Bath, UK

Interestingly, a survey (see www.milesbetter.org) was recently published which showed that there appears to be a link between the increasing incidence of allergies and decreasing standards of cleanliness in the home.

Only 32% of adults spend more than six hours a week on housework, and more than one in ten spend less than an hour a week. Of all the over 65s questioned, 45% recalled that six hours was once the minimum expected to be spent on housework each week. Of course, this seems to be the generation least affected by hayfever and other allergies.

Nicki, Oxford, England

How about working to create an environment where allergies do not begin to start with? Many of our problems are a result of our lifestyle. Perhaps its time to change, even if only a little.

Farrukh, Woking, UK

To those who accuse others of being fashionable or interesting to add a peanut allergy to their personality.... I hope you never have to watch your own child suffering an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts and dying infront of your eyes....

Gill, Lincoln, UK

Britain shall be “the laughing stock of Europe” as far as treatments and NHS are concerned and not just for allergies. I moved to UK from Germany neary 3 years ago and I was shocked to find out that women get nothing here when on a pill. The only regular check up is a blood test...! In Germany and other countries I know women get a proper check up - with a specialist doctor - every six months. More - we start with a check up as girls..! Here I hear from friends in my age (over 30) that they have never seen a specialist in their whole life. It feels like somebody telling me that its fine to brush my teeth only once in a month...! Well, I dont want to do that so I and all my foreign friends who live here go abroad and I get my normal check ups privately. Its worth it.
But what i dont understand is why? Why does NHS treat people like that? Here one sees a specialists often when its too late. There is no preventetive medicine. Cant they learn from the rest of the Europe?
Edyta, Cheshire

Edyta, Lymm, Cheshire

Marketing mendacity is an international culprit in quashing all scientific efforts to eliminate house dust mites and their faeces in mattresses and pillows:

a) Some "big name" manufacturers make false claims to their bedding products being "mite free". There is a dearth of enforcement of consumer responsible advertising when it comes to the esoteric discipline of allergy management.

b) Top hoteliers are loath to admit that their 5 star bedrooms can possibly be the breeding ground for up to 5 million mites per bed. There is a blanket of silence over the truth.

Very very sad.

Keith Currie, Kuala Lumpur

Keith Currie, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

All my childhood I was ill with 'colds' and 'coughs' etc and it was only when I was 15 and went to my family doctor and said 'I think I may have hay fever' that any one actually looked at my medical history. Yes, I had 'hay fever' (turns out to have been much wider than that). I had jabs thought I was over it all until I became a teacher when I would feel my tongue swelling because of an allergy to cats (and many of the children had cats and carried the allergen on their clothes). I eventually left teaching and have hardly been ill since - I wonder how many children have allergies to cats (and dust as our school cleaners weren't allowed to clean and dust beyond waste height!!) My allergy treatment now consists of keeping away from those things which makes me ill as bestI can.

Mar, Cardiff, Cymru

I have a huge number of allergies, and have been with allergy clinics for years. However, I have repeatedly been told in the past that the allergy clinic can do nothing for me, and that the doctor thus wants me to come off the list for the clinics. What kind of message does this send!

Juliet, London,

I'm allergic to peanuts and have told my employer as much. However they still insist, every month, on remunerating me in the form these oily seeds!

Rod Munch, Northampton, UK

It's obvious that the explosion in the number of allergies is a result of the modern obsession with hygiene. As a child, if you live in a sterlie environment and wash or shower every day, your immune system will never get a chance to develop properly.

KL, London,

There seems to have been a huge increase in the number of peole with nut allergies in recent years. Who had heard of a nut allergy until a few years ago? Either people are undergoing biological changes en masse or people are adding it as facets of their personality in an attempt to attract attention and emphasise their individuality.

Also, no longer can someone get a cold in summer without it being hay fever.

Kev Williams, York,

Having recently moved here from the US, where I received immunotherapy (allergy shots) for my allergies, I was astonished to hear that this treatment is not available in the UK. Is this really true? The treatment varies in effectiveness from person to person but in some cases (like mine) it can make an absolutely enormous difference!

Colombe, London,

Deremonopolise NHS!

Have a look at how the health services evolved in Israel from what was left by the British mandate. Patients get appointments with any specialists next day, no waiting lists, and no drain on the economy!

How long did you have to wait for a phone line when BT was a monopoly?

L Yanovich, Reading, UK

We use a chemically sheet overlay on the mattress that effectively kills house dust mites over a period of time, lasting as long as two years, thereby reducing the impact of dust mite allergy on the patient - not only allergy but also such allergy induced asthma! Very effective and scientifically proven too.

Mr Palaniappan, Penang Malaysia

Mr SP Palaniappan, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

The whole of the NHS is shabolic it is not working and has not worked for years. How much are we paying for these studies that are ignored by the NHS?
The NHS is used as a political football for the good of our political leaders.
The managers are politically motivated, the doctors and nurses are in it for the money.
Brown says we need matrons, the hospitals need "CLEANERS" and nurses who clean as part of their duties (as they did in the past) with wards that are indsustrially cleaned every 6 months.

Bill Luke, st helens, merseyside

You might be interested to know that I have a company that treats mattresses for dust mites and their faeces. I live in Spain and have tried fruitlessly to get hotels to clean their mattresses. Because of the nature of the business, it would seem to me to make sense that they use our system, which is cheap and effective and does not involve buying plastic-backed mattress covers. When beds are used by different people - I would have thought it would have been in the interests of the hotel to assure clients that their beds have been treated and therefore totally mite-free - but apparently, this is not the case - sad really.

Jacqui, Sant Pere de Ribes, Spain

If as you say Britain is the laughing stock of Europe because allergy treatments are routinely used elsewhere, why don't you list the routine treatments and their cures and put us out of our miseries?

Brian Seals, Scarborough, Nth Yorks, UK

I am from BANGLADESH. I surprised to read the article about allergy in the uk. I think in our country we are not vulnerable as the uk.

ISHAQUE, DHAKA, BANGLADESH