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Pesticides in tap water, produce linked to food allergies Pesticides in produce and drinking water may be playing a role in th e increasing prevalence of food allergies, according to a new study. Researchers looked at 2,211 people and found those in the top 25% for urine concentrations of chemical dichlorophenols – used to chlorinate tap water and keep pests off produce - were also 80% more likely to have a food allergy. "Adults can develop food allergies even though they're not kids anymore," says allergist and study author Dr. Elina Jerschow. "Adult allergies to foods are on the rise. That certainly includes shellfish and fish allergies, but also peanuts. We don't know what influences this development. But having been exposed to dichlorophenols in our study suggests there could be some link." Researchers believe dichlorophenols may alter the composition of healthy bacteria growing in the human gut, which plays an active role in immune system func

People who are exposed to higher amounts of chemicals used to chlorinate water and kill crop pests are also more likely to suffer from food allergies. The new finding doesn't prove or even suggest that pesticides or water chlorination cause food allergies. But it's possible that a class of chemicals called dichlorophenols could alter the population of microbes in the human body, in turn influencing the immune system's reaction to food triggers. "Both environmental pollution and the prevalence of food allergies are increasing in the United States," said lead author Elina Jerschow, a practicing allergist in New York City. "The results of this study suggest that these two phenomena might be linked." In the United States, food allergies affect between 1 and 3 percent of adults and between six and eight percent of children, said Dr. Clifford Bassett, an allergist in New York City and spokesperson for the American College of Allergy, Asthma and

Olive oil fraud is making the headlines after new research discovered that it may be the world's most mislabeled, misrepresented and downright impure food on grocery shelves. Worse, you'll recognize some of the brand names caught red-handed in the liquid gold scandal. Olive oil fraud has been around since Roman times, and sadly, it has never really been controlled. The pr ... oblem: It's difficult and costly to produce excellent olive oil, but easy to doctor it and rake in the profits. In the late 1990s, the European Union recognized olive oil as its most adulterated food; now, the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention has released a food fraud database that shows a similar state of affairs. Search the USP database for "olive oil," and you'll find all sorts of reported fraud. These generally fall into three types: Adulteration Undoubtedly the most criminal type of fraud, and incredibly common. Olive oil is simply mixed, or replaced entirely, with c