The value of clinical observation: sleuthing for allergies on the front lines

To Eat or Not To Eat—That Is the Question Sleuthing for Allergies on the Front Lines John W. Gerrard, O.C. D.M. (Oxford), F.R.C.P. (London, England, and Canada) (Deceased) Foreword by Chris and Jon Gerrard Our father, Dr. John Gerrard, was recognized as one of the originators of the “hygiene hypothesis”—that a lack of early childhood exposure to infectious agents increases subsequent susceptibility to allergic diseases by suppressing the natural development of the immune system [3]. More specifically, after studying and comparing IgE antibody levels and the prevalence of allergies in white (Caucasian) and Metis communities in Saskatchewan, he suggested in an August 1976 article in the Annals of Allergy that the higher prevalence of allergies in the white community was “the price paid by some members of the white community for their relative freedom from diseases due to viruses, bacteria and helminths.” For lack of a sufficient enzyme to metabolize it, these children experience a buildup of the amino acid phenylalanine which in higher concentrations is neurotoxic, causing extensive brain damage. How my interest and concern with food allergies began I moved from Birmingham, England, to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, in July 1955 to become the first Head of the Department of Paediatrics at the newly established clinical medical school at the University of Saskatchewan.