What Most People NEED to Know About Black Plastics (Throw it Away Immediately! )

Summary

The Neuro Experience – Episode Summary

Podcast: The Neuro Experience
Host: Louisa Nicola
Guest: Dr. Tanya Elliott (Immunologist, Allergist, Internal Medicine Physician)
Episode: What Most People NEED to Know About Black Plastics (Throw it Away Immediately!)
Date: April 14, 2026

---

Episode Overview

This episode centers on immune system health, the dramatic rise in allergies, the roots of autoimmunity, and exposes hidden dangers in household plastics—especially black plastics. Dr. Tanya Elliott, a board-certified immunologist and allergist, breaks down complex immunology concepts with clarity and practical advice. The conversation also features frank discussion on misinformation in health, institutional failures in allergy recommendations, and what everyday people can do to protect themselves and their families.

---

Key Discussion Points

1. The Immune System and Its Modern Challenges

• The Immune System Explained ([03:35])

  • The immune system’s role is to prevent infection, balance good and bad bacteria, and maintain homeostasis (cell growth regulation).
  • Overgrowth of immune response can result in cancer or autoimmune disease; underactivity leads to increased infections.
  • "We're essentially billions of bacteria ... and those bacteria need to be cared for." – Dr. Tanya Elliott [03:04]

• Autoimmunity and Stress ([04:58])

  • Autoimmune diseases are an interplay between genetic predisposition and environmental triggers.
  • Significant focus on the impact of unaddressed stress and trauma (referencing Gabor Maté’s work and The Body Keeps the Score).
  • Chronic stress physiologically mimics the body’s infection response, exhausting the immune system and leading to illness ([14:23], [19:26], [20:12]).

"Our bodies can then shut down ... it's meant to be a fight or flight response ... but when it’s chronic, you internalize it."
— Dr. Tanya Elliott [09:49]

---

2. The Modern Allergy Epidemic

• Rise of Allergies ([25:32], [28:20])
  • One in three now have allergies, mostly environmental—linked to higher pollen loads, pollution (“super pollen”), and changes in bacterial exposure.
  • Simultaneous increase in environmental irritants (pollutants binding pollen), overuse of antibiotics/antimicrobial products, rise of C-sections, and societal “hygiene” culture.
  • Kids in larger families, rural settings, or with more early life exposures have lower allergy rates ([31:31]).

"Allergies were on the rise in the 1990s ... with the rise of antimicrobial soaps, antibacterial soaps, hand washes, overuse of antibiotics."
— Dr. Tanya Elliott [31:51]

• C-Section and Early Life Exposures ([33:44])
  • C-section births bypass the baby's exposure to maternal bacteria in the vaginal canal, increasing allergy risk.
  • Early-life environmental exposures essential for healthy immune system “programming”.

---

3. Institutional Failures & Shifting Allergy Guidelines

• Peanut Allergy and Delayed Introduction ([36:15], [38:07])
  • In the early 2000s, recommendations to delay introduction of peanuts (over choking and allergy fears) backfired.
  • New research (LEAP study) revealed early oral introduction (within 4-6 months) is crucial for preventing peanut allergy.
  • Skin exposure to peanut protein (via contaminated surfaces, not ingestion) can actually sensitize and induce allergy.

"So what happened was the exposure to peanut became through the skin, through touch... the theory is that the initial sensitization to peanut was through the skin."
— Dr. Tanya Elliott [38:07]

• Why Israel’s Peanut Allergy Rates are Ultra-Low ([43:05])
  • In Israel, peanut-based teething snacks (“bamba”) are routine for infants, resulting in near-elimination of peanut allergies (0.2% prevalence, vs. up to 10% in U.S.).

---

4. Nut-Free Schools and the Next Allergy Wave

• Consequences of Blanket Nut-Free Policies ([45:49])
  • Nut-free schools may inadvertently increase future nut allergies by delaying exposure.
  • Nuts are being vilified alongside harmful foods; this is misguided as nuts are beneficial for health.
  • Actual transmission of nut allergy is not airborne, but via ingestion or direct contact.

"I predict there’s going to be an increased incidence of nut allergy in school age children because we are inadvertently avoiding it across an entire population."
— Dr. Tanya Elliott [45:49]

---

5. Adult-Onset Allergies & Food Reactions

• Why Adults Develop New Allergies ([53:10])

  • Shellfish allergy commonly develops in adults, theorized due to altered digestion from chronic alcohol use or antacids.
  • Medications (antacids) may prevent proper protein breakdown, resulting in the immune system recognizing food as foreign.
  • Oral immunotherapy and biologics (e.g., Zolair) are emerging therapies but won’t restore full food tolerance.

• Oral Food Allergy Syndrome ([51:56])

  • Cross-reactivity between certain pollen and fresh fruits (e.g., kiwis, pineapples) can cause oral symptoms.
  • Slight heating can denature culprit proteins, reducing symptoms.

---

6. Food Sensitivity Testing: Fact & Fiction

• Commercial “Food Sensitivity” Tests Are Unreliable ([57:44], [58:13])
  • Most tests sold online or via influencers are “baloney.”
  • Real intolerances exist but are best identified by elimination diets of common culprits (milk, eggs, wheat, nuts, soy, etc.), not expensive blood tests.
  • Tests often prompt unnecessary dietary restriction without benefit.

---

7. Plastics in the Food Chain – The Black Plastic Warning

• Why Black Plastics Are Especially Harmful ([60:22], [61:54])
  • Black plastic is often made from recycled e-waste—like electronics—containing toxic flame retardants.
  • These chemicals leach into food when containers are hot or microwaved, posing a significant health risk.
  • Clear plastics are less likely to be made from e-waste but still carry risk when heated.

“Anything that’s black goes into one bin … so there is a chance that your kitchen container, or utensils … contain chemical flame retardants. That’s the reason why black plastic is something on the no fly list.”
— Dr. Tanya Elliott [60:29]

• Other Everyday Exposures

  • Receipts often contain BPA; avoid handling.
  • Many disposable coffee cups and paper takeout containers are BPA-lined.
  • Opt for glass, stainless steel, and wood for kitchenware.

• Consumer Awareness & Advocacy

  • Individual choices matter, add up over time, and will pressure industry and policy for change ([62:38], [63:36]).

---

8. Misinformation and Media Challenges

• Polarization in Online Health Advice ([49:58])
  • Social media algorithms reward polarizing, extreme content, making balanced scientific advice less visible.
  • “It’s part individuals, part algorithm, and not live in extremes. I’m seeing it across the board, across every single health topic imaginable.” – Dr. Tanya Elliott [49:58]
  • The takeaway: seek credible, nuanced sources and be wary of viral health advice.

---

Notable Quotes & Insights

• On early life exposures:
  “You want to introduce the food through the GI tract first. Then it’s okay to put the food products on your skin or whatever, but that initial introduction should not be on the cheek.” — Dr. Elliott [43:47]

• On black plastics:
  “There is a chance that your kitchen utensil, or your kitchen container ... contain chemical flame retirement retardants. So then you heat them up and those chemical flame retardants ... get into your food. That’s the reason why black plastic is ... on the no fly list.” — Dr. Elliott [60:29]

• On institutional failures:
  “When we made the recommendation to not have peanuts before the age of two, and then we literally increase the incidence of peanut allergy by 100 fold.” — Dr. Elliott [48:47]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• The Role of the Immune System: [03:35]
• Stress, Trauma, and Autoimmunity: [06:00]–[20:57]
• Rise in Environmental Allergies: [25:32]–[31:51]
• C-Section and Birth Exposure: [33:44]
• Peanut Allergy History & Israel Example: [36:15]–[43:15]
• Nut-Free School Policies: [45:49]
• Social Media & Health Misinformation: [49:58]
• Adult-Onset Allergies: [53:10]
• Shellfish Allergy Mechanism: [54:00]
• Food Sensitivity Test Myths: [57:44]
• Black Plastics Danger Explained: [60:22]–[63:36]
• Practical Advice on Allergy Signs and Prevention: [65:08]

---

Practical Tips & Takeaways

• Expose infants to common allergenic foods orally (not via skin) early and safely (4-6 months), unless a known risk or doctor objects.
• Don’t delay peanut, nut, or other allergenic food introduction unless medically necessary.
• Avoid excessive use of antibiotics, antacids, and antibacterial products; let kids play in dirt.
• Replace black plastic and plastic utensils in the kitchen with glass, wood, or stainless steel.
• Beware of “food sensitivity” and “IGG panel” blood tests marketed online.
• Reduce handling of receipts and beware of disposable food containers with BPA.
• Seek out reliable, credentialed experts for health advice—don’t trust viral trends blindly.

---

Memorable Moment

“Nuts are not bad. Sugar is bad. We should not have sugary snacks in school. Completely agree. Don’t also characterize that alongside nuts.”
— Dr. Tanya Elliott [46:28]

---

Dr. Elliott’s final message: Awareness matters more than paranoia—make informed choices, advocate for healthier options, and watch out for misleading health advice both in real life and online.

---

End of Summary

Transcript

[Louise Nicola]

I've seen some of my friends give baby Benadryl.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

I don't like Benadryl. It's an independent risk factor for development of Alzheimer's. It also causes short term memory loss. It also impacts your ability to pee. I really don't see why Benadryl is even needed in the market anymore.

[Louise Nicola]

Dr. Elliot, what would you say your mission is?

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

My job is to just empower people to live their best versions of themselves and keep them out of the doctor's office and out of the hospital.

[Louise Nicola]

What does the dark circles do? Because I have those.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

The dark circles on your eyes, it could be allergies. See if it's worse in May and June. This underneath your eyelids is very thin. So you start to see the dilation of the blood vessels, which then looks darkish purplish underneath your eyes. And if you treat the underlying allergy with a, you may not have dark circles under your eyes at all.

[Louise Nicola]

I'm seeing now all over social media that mothers are putting peanut butter on their kid's cheek.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Don't do that. Do exact opposite because you don't want the first exposure to be through the skin.

[Louise Nicola]

So what are mothers meant to do?

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Give them.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

I'm Louise Nicola and this is the neuro experience.

[Louise Nicola]

Dr. Elliott, what would you say your mission is?

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Oh, boy. I just want to empower people through education because I think sometimes people are making health decisions and they think they're making good health decisions and it's based off of erroneous information. So my job is to just empower people to live their best versions of themselves, their healthiest lives, and keep them out of the doctor's office and out of the hospital.

[Louise Nicola]

Well, I love that because you focus a lot. When you say erroneous advice, you're talking about a lot of the misinformation.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Well, it's two things, right? There's misinformation and then there's also just stuff that like, we as a healthcare system were operating off of the information. We knew it at the time, and then that information becomes out of date. But by the time we catch up in terms of public education to let people know, hey, this was out of date. Years have gone by, right? Like, we know that there are lots of things that are currently in our food supply that are not good for us, but by the time all the regulations, regulations are in place and that that ingredient is no longer in the food supply, we're talking four or five, six years later. So you really need to empower people to be smart consumers.

[Louise Nicola]

It's like neuroimaging, right? It's like 20 years before it actually gets, you know, a product gets FDA approved and a clinical trial goes through and we know all this information and

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

then once it is, then it's not approved by insurance and then you've got to go through this whole rigmarole. Or you could say, hey, if you can save up the money for this imaging study, there's going to be value for you as an individual. So you may want to consider in making that investment as opposed to letting insur companies dictate what's covered and what's not covered. So it's again, empowering people. Hey, the evidence is there. You may have challenges getting it covered through traditional insurance, but you should be empowered to know that the evidence is there and something like this may be beneficial for you.

[Louise Nicola]

So we are going to talk all about immunology on this episode, right? We haven't touched on that yet. But if somebody is just listening right now and they've clicked on this episode and they know it's going to be about immunology, what do you want them to walk away with by the end of this?

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

A basic understanding of the fact that we are essentially billions of bacteria. That's what we are. We're a bunch of single celled organisms that make up what we see in front of us today. And those bacteria need to be cared for and taken care of and we can get into how and why. That's number one. And number two, the immune system works by getting the appropriate inputs. And so exposures to those inputs are really important. And we're going to talk about early exposure to those inputs so that our immune system knows how to grow and develop and flourish in the right ways.

[Louise Nicola]

Oh, well, let's start there. Talk to me. What is the immune system? What does it actually do and what does it mean when it gets confused?

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

So the main focus of the immune system is to help prevent us against getting sick and being overwhelmed by bad bacteria, viruses, funguses, parasites and things like that. So when the immune system is operating on all cylinders and operating appropriately, it is appropriately balancing out the good bacteria, bad bacteria and preventing us from getting sick and dying from and infection. That's the predominant role of the immune system. Another role of the immune system is what we call sort of immune modulating, immune regulating. And it's sort of just homeostasis, which is a fancy word of just saying, making sure that everything stays in balance and that cells don't overgrow or undergrow. So getting too many cells and cellular overgrowth would be that the immune system has lost their checks and balances and that's a cancer. Another way for immune system overgrowth would be autoimmune disease, where our immune system gets super hyperactive and starts to own body and its own organs. And then an underactive immune system is an immune system that's not appropriately fighting against those external infections, viruses, bacteria, parasites.

[Louise Nicola]

Why would my immune system act that way where it's causing an autoimmune disease,

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

for example, it's like a kid and it's acting out and it's just not getting the right attention, the right inputs. I'm putting it simply, but obviously there's always that piece of like, what's our genetics and what's in our environment. So sometimes if you have a genetic deficiency, right. Our immune system is essentially made up of a bunch of different proteins and molecules. Right. So if you don't have the building blocks for the right type of immune system, it can go wrong just like any kind of organ or other part of our body. And then it can also be modulated and impacted by inputs in the environment where you get mutations in your immune system to make it downregulate, meaning it's not going to have the right checks and balances and then you get overgrowth of stuff. Or it can get overactive and sort of be in this hypervigilant state where it's either responding abnormally to things that are occurring in the environment, allergies, or it's occurring abnormally to our own cells, which is autoimmune disease. So it's basically a combination of both external environmental factors and then could also just be our genetics too.

[Louise Nicola]

Does Ms. Multiple sclerosis that fits under the autoimmune disease. Right. So are we born with these autoimmune diseases like you said, like it's a combination. Right. But are there genetic risk factors involved in.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

There are genetic risks. I believe there are genetic risk factors for everything. Right. And then it's just a matter of is this a genetic predisposition that is going to definitely turn into a disease or is it a genetic predisposition that might turn into a disease and then it's the right kind of source and environmental factors and then triggers that disease. So I think it's a combination of both having a predisposition for something and then also just being in a type of environmental circumstance where it's not a predetermined thing, but you're an environmental circumstance and then you have some sort of. It's essentially A mutation. Right. Something gets triggered and the checks and balances are off and then something goes awry. The other thing that we don't talk about enough and it's really hard to do a clinical study around. You're not going to do a randomized controlled trial around childhood traumas, stresses. Right. We know that, like childhood infection, for example. Right. Could then lead to diseases and things ahead of along the way as you age. But what about severe stress and traumas and then whether it's in the child or even in the parent and then transferred from an epigenetic standpoint to the child. So I think that's a whole other area of interest because I don't know if you read the book the Body Keeps the Score, but there's a lot of that. Right. Our stress needs to have somewhere to go. And if it doesn't get expressed appropriately or your childhood traumas aren't addressed appropriately, then they're going to settle somewhere in your body. I strongly believe that. But how are you going to sit there and do a randomized controlled trial like George, a bunch of kids and look at the outcomes? Right. So I think that that's just something that we need to consider. We know how much stress has an impact and a role on our immune systems. So I think it'd be silly to think that severe and intense stressful situations, when not dealt with appropriately, with the right sort of release valves for those sorts of things don't end up manifesting some way physically in our bodies. You didn't think we were going to get so deep?

[Louise Nicola]

No, we got so deeply. I'm like five minutes in. But it reminded me of Gabor.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Gabor Mate ye.

[Louise Nicola]

He speaks about the growing concern of 80% of all autoimmune diseases are existing in women in a female population. And he relates this back to trauma that the, you know, just like you said, the body keeps a score. And saying that a lot of women take on the burden of stress as albeit primary caregiver. They may be looking after aging parents and then whatever, whatever they're going through at the time and they hold that

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

in rather than seeking.

[Louise Nicola]

What is it? Therapy? I don't know.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Yeah. Not just that or the support systems or the saying that like, you know, this is okay and not doing all the self blame. Right. Just think about what happens to your body when you're stressed. Right. Even if it's a stressful thought and you're. You clam up and you get really intense and your blood pressure goes up and your heart rate goes up. And you start sweating, right? And then our bodies can then shut down and it's meant to be a fight or flight response, right? Where you're like fighting, it's a lion, okay, I have this stressful situation, then it goes away and I calm down. But when it's a chronic stressful situation and you don't have an outlet, you don't have a community to speak to, you start to just inter, you internalize it and you blame yourself and you, you can feel your muscles tighten, right? And you can feel all the physiologic changes that are happening. So how could we be so ignorant to think that that happening day in and day out, every single day, we start to internalize it. We start to blame ourselves. We start to think that we're not enough or we're not good enough and that stress and all those cytokines and all those toxins are just going to sit in our bodies until we figure out a way to go back in and address that and get ourselves the support system that we need. We don't talk about it enough. We talk so much about this is the disease and this is the treatment for the disease, and we don't talk about the root cause of how we've gotten there and all of the other contextual information and all of those environmental exposures, whether they're emotional stressors or toxins in our bodies, whatever. Like we're not kind of looking at that root cause and looking at the whole person. And it'd just be silly to think that our immune systems weren't affected by that. And we do know, right, when people are chronically stressed, and I'm talking very, very high levels of stress, they're more prone to getting infection.

[Louise Nicola]

So that data exists what type of

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

infection you can get bacterial infections, viral infections, and those viral infections can manifest this things like Epstein Barr virus, chronic Lyme disease, and then also just like upper respiratory infections, right? Because your immune system is constantly in this stressed situation on override, on override, it gets burnt out.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

There is something I see over and over again with the women I work with. They're doing everything right, training, eating well, optimizing sleep, and they still feel off. Low energy, brain fog, mood fluctuations. And a lot of the time it comes back to something really simple. They're evidently deficient in key nutrients such as iron, folate, zinc, vitamin D B vitamins, especially if they're menstruating. And most supplements just don't account for that. They're built on male default models or they chase symptoms Instead of fixing the foundation, that's why I started using daily basis. It's a cycle aligned multivitamin powder. Two formulas, one for each phase of your cycle. Replenish in the first half, especially around your period, to restore what you're losing and balance in the second half to support mood, inflammation and gut health. It's one stick a day. You mix it with water.

[Louise Nicola]

That's it.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

For me, the biggest shift has been consistency in how I feel. More stable energy in the first half of my cycle and in the second half, better focus, better mood and I'm sleeping better. It's foundational. Not a stack, not a quick fix, just one thing a day that covers what most people are missing. They're doing a really special offer for the Neuro experience audience. You can use coding euro for 50% off your first month. That is coding euro for 50 off. The link is below in the show notes. Guys, I am a big believer in testing instead of guessing, especially when it comes to your health. And for years we've been told to wait until something goes wrong before looking at our blood work. I mean that's, that's what the medical system is right now. You know, you break an arm and you're in the hospital and that's great. But it never taught us how to get on track as a preventative method. And this is why I use Function Health. Because when you use function, it gives you access to over a hundred different biomarkers all in one place. They've got this amazing platform that you can look at everything. It tracks all of your biomarkers over time so you can start seeing your patterns. And for me, the power in the insight. So instead of wondering why your energy

[Louise Nicola]

is off or your mood or your

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

focus, or you're wondering if you're in perimenopause, you can actually see what's happening inside your body and make decisions for real data. Now if you want to get some clarity and if you want to get your blood work done with Function health, you can. You'll get a discount if you sign up at functionhealth.com louisianicola or go to functionhealth.com use code neuro100@signup to get started.

[Louise Nicola]

Can you explain to me, let's take a male or a female. We're in New York right now. She's or he is in their 40s and they're high up there. Maybe they're a partner at a law firm or you've got the Wall street guys highly stressed. They've also got a Spouse and they've got a couple of kids, and life is stressful. What's actually happening from an innate immune system level? Because that's the first line of defense, right? The innate immune system. Is that correct?

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Y.

[Louise Nicola]

So that's what gets activated when we're stressed and what's actually happening. So explain that.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

So let's first start with, like, what your immune system is, like, meant to do. Yeah, you have two buckets of cells. You've got your TH1 cells, which are meant to fight against viruses and bacteria, and then your Th2 cells, which are meant to fight against funguses and fight against, like, parasites and things like that. Right? So that's what they're meant to fight against when a threat is perceived. Right. Normally that threat, our normal immune system is working perfectly. Right. We're not being, you know, we're not in these stressful situations. Normally the threat is perceived. Right. That threat is a virus. That immune system gets activated. When the immune system, those TH1 cells get activated, a whole bunch of inflammatory cytokines, which are essentially like molecules that give signals to other cells, get activated to say, hey, we're an army. We need to be activated because now there's just a virus or something that's invading our bodies, and we need to start fighting against it. So our. Our temperature goes up, right? Because we want to create an environment. That's why people develop fevers when they're sick. Their temperature goes up because it's like we're gonna. We're gonna make it too hot for these invaders to exist. Then your blood flow increases because we're like, we're gonna just flush these things out. You get increase in the amount of mucus that you produce. You get your lymp start to get activated. So we've got lymph node channels all throughout our body. So that that lymph, the lymphatic system and our white blood cells, all this stuff starts to get activated, and it starts literally putting out toxic chemicals to try to kill off this foreign invader. Right. So that's essentially in a normally functioning immune system against a virus. Right? The virus is a foreign invader, the bacteria is a foreign invader. And you think about it, it's like, okay, that's how I feel when I get sick. I get a fever, I get a runny nose, I get congestion, my heart rate goes up. I get very fatigued because my body is sitting here. Imagine these immune system little tiny soldiers, like, going and shooting out chemicals and stuff, trying to create an environment that's toxic to a virus or bacteria, a fungus, a parasite, what have you right? Now, what if the immune system perceived that same insult as a stress, a stressor, a very stressful situation. The inputs that are getting activated from the far now, let's call the foreign invader an actively chronically stressed life, right? The immune system then can't tell the difference. Am I fighting against like a virus or am I fighting against like my body feels the same way where I'm fighting against this environment where my blood pressure is going up, my heart rate is going up, I'm sweating all the time, my cortisol levels are elevated, right? Those are all the signals to the immune system. Oh, there's another foreign invader, right? And so what happens is your immune system jumps on this bandwagon. The external factor is now chronic stress, high paced job, whatever it is, not being able, not feeling good enough, not keeping up, trauma, whatever it is, right? And now your body is acting in the exact same way and it can't discern the difference between this foreign invader that's a virus or bacteria, or this foreign external stressor that is constantly invading our lives. Does that make sense?

[Louise Nicola]

Yeah. You've said, I think probably three times I've counted, not feeling good enough. How is that causing us stress?

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

You're in a perpetual realm of like self blame, right? That you're like in this environment and whether it's your mom or you're at your job or whatever, where you are trying to operate within a system where it's never enough because we're in this capitalistic society. So there's always going to be a bigger boat, there's always going to be an nicer watch, there's always going to be a bigger house. So if you're bought into, there's always going to be a better job, there's always going to be a better student than your child, right? There's always going to be a better class or extracurricular or whatever. Like that is just, you know, this, this environment that we live in, right? And so then we internalize that. If our values are aligned with what the culture's values are, we're looking on social media and like everybody looks like they're having a prettier, fancier dinner than you, right? And you're bought into that culture or you're bought into your work culture or the culture of materialism, you're gonna feel like you're not good enough. You're gonna be like, what am I doing? Because this is what women often do, right? Why can't I not be that? Or what is it? I'm gonna try to outwork this problem, you know, or I'm going to try to exceed or excel or whatever. And it's like this bottomless pit. Yeah. And, you know, a lot of it also goes into, like, you know, how you were raised as well, and feeling like a secure attachment and feeling confident and all that. But if you're bought into this system, it ending rat race that we're in and we just internalize that, and then we become sick.

[Louise Nicola]

And so all of this, like you mentioned before, with what's happening to the immune. So we get chronic stress, chronic elevated cortisol levels, and then the immune system is just like, okay, I give up. It becomes really weak. And that's when we start to see symptoms of autoimmune disease.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Exactly. And like, you know, the chronic stress is the body cannot tell the difference between a foreign invader that is like a lion standing there, or a bacteria or virus that's coming into to invade, or your terrible boss at work, because your body physiologically is having the exact same response. You know, that's essentially what happens. So.

[Louise Nicola]

So other than there's another book.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Wait, I want to tell you about. It's called why Zebras don't get Ulcers. Yes. Do you know that book by Robert Sapolsky? It's the same thing. Why don't zebras get ulcers?

[Louise Nicola]

Right.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

They're. They're being chased by lions every day. It's because it's not a chronic stress. They're chased by the lion, the lion goes away, everybody goes to sleep, they're fine. Then they're totally back to their norm. They're totally back to their restful state. A couple weeks later, maybe a lion come.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Okay.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

This is the normal cortisol response. This is the normal stress response that happens in response to an external trigger. Then that trigger goes away and we go back to our baseline. If the line was chasing them all day, every day, they'd have ulcers. Right. This is what happens to us in our environment, in the world in which we live, where we have these constant stressors wherever we are, and we're in a fight or flight response response all the time. There's no time for rest, there's no time for recovery. This is why we get ulcers and zebras don't. And other mammals don't.

[Louise Nicola]

Yes, but this is why, other than talk therapy, you have to practice. Is there a way to, like, reverse this then?

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Well, first is Awareness. Right. Because a lot of times we're not even aware of what we're, how we're behaving and why we're behaving and why we're getting triggered by things.

[Louise Nicola]

Yeah.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

And if you, you know, look to Gabor Mate's work, a lot of this is like, like going back to your childhood and reparenting and recognizing that the person that's showing up today at that business meeting that's so mad at their boss and so frustrated might be the young child that didn't get the support and care that they needed and being like, oh, this is six year old Tanya showing up at work today. Because the truth is I should be able to show up at work and be like, my boss is acting like a not nice person today. But that doesn't have to do anything. That doesn't have anything to do with me. That doesn't have anything to do with like, there's nothing wrong or bad about me. I should not be taking this and internalizing this. I should not be trying to take this on or trying to fix it. I should be, you know, going, you know, getting through the noise, hearing what they have to say and being like, okay, this is what I need to do today. Okay, that's fine. But not allowing myself to be pulled in to their negative energy and their stuff and the way in which they're showing up, if they're showing up in a toxic way. So let them theory, it's like, let them think what they want, let them show up however they want. But that does, that doesn't say anything about my self worth. But when we show up in a world where we're like, like whatever it is, I you want to perform, you want to be a, you know, you want to be the best at what you do. You want people to like you. Right? Then you feed into that energy and then you get triggered by that energy. So you have to recognize that's that person's stuff. I might be getting triggered by this, but this might be an old part of me that needs work. Let me go back and do that work. Whether it's through EMDR therapy or other types of like meditations and therapies to show back up and reparent that young self and then say, okay, like, I'm not in danger. This is not a lion. This is just some mean colleague or co worker or this is just another mom that's like guilting me into thinking my kid has to be in 15 extracurricular activities. Right. And you just say, okay, like I'm not. I'm not in any threat. I'm not in any active danger. Right. Then you can start to show up differently. But the first thing is just recognizing and acknowledging that you're having a physiologic response to something. And it's not necessary to have that physiologic response. And you can calm your body down.

[Louise Nicola]

Down.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

I need to talk to you about mito Pure because if you listened to the episode last week, you will know that one of the most fascinating things about aging research right now is the role that mitochondria play in how we age. So these tiny little structures inside our cells are responsible for producing energy. And when they start to decline, everything from physical stamina to cognitive performance and diseases. I have been taking mito pure from Timeline. It's built around a compound called urolithin A. Now, urolithin A, this is the only place you can get urolithin A helps your body recycle and renew damaged mitochondria so your cells can produce energy more efficiently. Now, I'm currently taking four of the Timeline nutrition capsules. You can just go to timeline.com neuro you can search it all.

[Louise Nicola]

But what I like to think about

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

is this is not a stimulant or a quick fix. It's supporting energy at the cellular level,

[Louise Nicola]

which is exactly what longevity science is.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Now, these are phenomenal. If you want 20% off, go to timeline.com neuro I just read a fascinating study and it showed that people who do not hydrate properly actually age their skin. And that was so scary to me because. Because who wants to look like they have aging skin? So instead of just drinking liters and liters of water and electrolytes, I have decided to use Jones Road beauty products because they not only have simple formulations that support the skin barrier rather than overwhelming it with unnecessary ingredients, but they also prioritize hydration. How many times do you just use products and products and products and your skin still doesn't feel hydrated and doesn't look hydrated? This is probably why. So I have been using Jones Road beauty moisturizer and face wash. And let me tell you, their ingredients are so clean, most of the ingredients that we use in our skincare products contain heavy metals and other contaminants. So you need to make sure you are using very good skin care. Listen, this is a reminder that good skincare doesn't need to be complicated. It just needs to support your skin doing what it naturally does best. So if you want to try Jones Road Beauty, go to Jones road beauty.com and use code Neuro. And they'll give you a free little gift at the end.

[Louise Nicola]

The immune system is wild.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

It really is.

[Louise Nicola]

It really is.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

And very intelligent.

[Louise Nicola]

It's very intelligent.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

So are the bacteria that drive it, the good bacteria?

[Louise Nicola]

Well, actually, that's what I actually wanted to get into. So I think now we have a. An allergy epidemic. I mean, I don't know why, but I'm hoping that you can explain that. But I want to know what has changed in the last 30 years that explains why one in three people now have. Has an allergy.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Isn't that wild? And when we say one in three people, we're talking about environmental allergies. So these are allergies to things that are, like, occurring in the environment, like pollen and dust might matter and mold and cat and dog.

[Louise Nicola]

I want to cut you off for one second. Again, I'm sorry to everybody who's going to hate this, but I was born and raised in Australia.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

I never had any allergies.

[Louise Nicola]

I never, ever in my life. And I still really don't. But for some reason, when it hits May, my nose, my nose is blocked, like, severely. Like, there is nothing you can do. I've got. I'm allergic to the pollen, but only here.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

It's.

[Louise Nicola]

I've never had this anywhere else in the world. And I always say that's it. As soon as May 1st hits, I have to leave. I have to go to Europe or something.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Do you want to know what you're allergic to? Because I could tell you based off of the time of year what's triggering it and why. But so like, from March till May is tree pollen.

[Louise Nicola]

Pollen.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Right? And then from the beginning of May up until the end of July is grass pollen season. And then we've got like mid July, early August, all the way until the first frost. That's weed and ragweed pollen season. And so if it's here in, like, the Northeast, it's one of seven types of grasses that you're most likely allergic to. And we could talk about all things that you can do to sort of minimize and mitigate your exposure to the grass pollen. But remember that that's regional, right? So it's what grows here in the Northeast, and it doesn't grow you Australia. And after you've lived in a place for over six months, that's when your body can start to become sensitized to something. So if I'm. I'm assuming you've been living here for like at least a year. And now you're here in this environment and your body's like, wait a minute, this isn't like what I grew up with. This is something kind of weird. I haven't been exposed to it before. This must be something foreign. Then your body starts to go down that pathway of the allergic response. And it's not uncommon for people to develop allergies really like up until the age of like 30, 35, then we really don't see new onset adult allergies, with the exception of shellfish food allergy in adults. Really after the age 35, age of 35 or 40, you tend to see more like medication allergies and skin allergies, but not as much environmental allergies. But you get these peaks of like school age, kids, teens, and then like women age 30 to 35.

[Louise Nicola]

That's so interesting, a grass allergy. Okay, so why is one in, in. In three people now has an.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

So it's really interesting. There's like, it's multifactorial. One of the reasons why it even seems like more than 30% of the population is that there's just a lot more pollen in the air and it's an irritant to anybody's nose. So even if you're not specifically allergic, meaning you don't have allergy antibodies circulating in your blood, just the amount of pollen, imagine like these little tiny particles all in the air. If you breathe that in, your nose is going to know that this is a foreign body and you're going to sneeze or you're to going to feel congested. So we even see people, we call it non allergic rhinitis. We even see people walking around who don't test positive for allergies, who have allergy symptoms. So it's part the sheer amount of pollen and that has to do with the weather. And we've had, you know, not super crazy winters. All this past winter is kind of bad in New York City, but for the most part, more mild winter and above average precipitation. That's kind of the perfect storm for more and more pollen to be present in the air, air and then the other piece is pollution in the air. So pollen will bind to things like diesel exhaust and nitric oxide and sulfur dioxide bind to these things. And now you have what's a super pollen. And that's going to be irritating to anybody. And literally we call it the super pollen. And it makes the pollen more buoyant, meaning it can travel way farther, like 50, 100 miles from wherever it is that the grass or the tree is. So we're kind of just seeing pollen everywhere in higher and higher amounts, amounts then binding with pollution. And that's just an irritant to anybody in their nasal passages. So it's like no one's in the clear from an allergy perspective. So that's sort of the environmental piece, right? And then there are the factors of, like, why are people skewing allergic? Why is their immune system skewing allergic? So interestingly, when you look at undeveloped countries and underdeveloped countries, incidence of allergy is so low. Well, why? Because their allergy cells, remember I said earlier, there's Th1 cells and Th2 cells. Th1 immune system cells fight against viruses and bacteria. Th2 cells fight against parasites. Right. In developing world, they're too busy fighting against parasites and worms and amoebas and all these others. So your TH2 immune system is active. It's busy. It's like, oh, I got to be ready for the parasite. In developed countries, we don't really have parasitic infections. We don't really have that. That Th2 immune system is more dormant. And so it's kind of sitting around bored. And so it's not getting what we said in terms of the right kinds of inputs to develop properly. So imagine your Th2 cells are like, sitting around bored, and then they're like, well, I don't know, is that foreign, that tree pollen, that cat? And so you start reacting to things that are normally occurring in the environment. And that's an allergy. Allergy. So undeveloped countries, very little environmental allergy, because again, the immune system is getting early inputs of like, okay, this is a parasite. This is a worm, this is a fungus. This is this weird thing. This is how my immune system needs to react my TH2 cells. And in the developed world, with the absence of Those exposures, that Th2 component of your immune system doesn't develop properly.

[Louise Nicola]

Okay? That's why some people have they're allergic to something and other people aren't.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

There you go.

[Louise Nicola]

Even if they're born and raised in the same. There you go.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Now, the other piece of that, because it's interesting. You see, even born in the same household, we find that if you live in a household with multiple siblings, you're less likely to have allergies.

[Louise Nicola]

Oh, and I grew up with two

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

boys, so the reason the older children, everyone's outside. You're more likely to be like, outside also if you grew up in a rural area.

[Louise Nicola]

Area.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

So you're more exposed to Germs earlier on, if you're born in a home with multiple siblings because, like, by the third or fourth kid, parents are like, yeah, go eat that off the floor. It doesn't matter, Go run around, play. And we're less like hyper vigilant about wiping down surfaces. Antibacterial this, antibacterial that, right? Then we're killing off not just the bad bacteria, we're killing off all the good bacteria. Going back to the story of the microbiome. So allergies were on the rise in the 1990s, right? Where we realized, like, oh, what's going like, more and more people are developing allergies with the rise of antimicrobial soaps, antibacterial soaps, hand washes, overuse of antibiotics. Right? All this stuff. You don't need to use antibacterial hand wash all the time, right? You're not fighting off infection. All you're doing is killing off the good bacteria in your skin microbiome. Right? And the microbiome all around you. So now all you're left with are all the weird resistant bacteria. And your immune system is not getting those right inputs and the right type of learning. And that's why we, we saw an increase in allergic disease, because the immune system didn't understand these are good bacteria, these are bad bacteria. Here's how I navigate this whole, like, microbiome and good and bad and all this. So it just started to say, let me just react to things that I haven't seen before. Dogs, cats, whatever. But the kids that grew up rolling around in the dirt had pets, had multiple siblings. Those kids don't get allergies. Why this incidence of allergies is much lower because they had exposure to all of the bacteria and all the. Like your kids roll around in dirt within their first year of life. Don't chase them around with antibacterial soaps and wipes. And guess what? Probably don't even need to shower them every day.

[Louise Nicola]

You mentioned something about the, the microbiome thesis, and I often think about the difference between natural birth and C section and how that relates to immunity. Microbiome, but also allergies.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Yep, 100%. And it is seen in observational data and studies that children that are born of C section have a higher inc.

[Louise Nicola]

Allergies.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

So then you say, well, why is this. Well, what is the first exposure to bacteria that babies have? It's through the birth canal, right? And so you're bypassing that birth canal. And interestingly, now we start to lather on and expose babies to like vaginal fluid and materials from the vaginal canal to work to prevent that, to sort of reintroduce it, that right at the moment that they're born the right kinds of bacterial exposure that they should have. So again, in the 90s, when we started to see the increase in allergies in general, and then that also led to the, you know, speaking about peanut allergy and avoiding and delaying. Right. That was, that was a Recommendation made in 2000 in response to this. We're starting to see an increased incidence in allergy. Right. We made the wrong decision. And we'll talk about that in a moment based on the information we knew at the time. But anyway, again, elective C sections were on the rise during that time. So emergency C sections, you can't do anything about it. But we were seeing more and more women, working women in the 90s, 2000s. We even see it now where they're like, well, I want to have my hair done and like, I don't want to take off work or whatever. And I'm like, I don't want to. Oh gosh, vaginal birth, right? And so there was a time where women were having elective C sections and it was easier for the OB GYN doctor who was like, okay, great, let me schedule you in a couple weeks early as opposed to getting called at 2 o' clock in the morning, right? So it was all these dynamics in play. Increased incidence of C sections. Oh, look at that. Increased incidence of allergies. And it wasn't just one thing, right. It was also the overuse of antibacterial products in the home. It was this hygiene hypothesis of making sure your babies are clean and everything is wiped down and everybody's perfectly sanitized. And it's the overuse of antibiotics, right? You should only be on an antibiotic for a bacterial infection, right. That your body is not appropriately clearing. But we were putting everybody and their mother on Z packs and ammo, oxicillin and this and that, even when they didn't have a bacterial infection. And we also said, stay on the antibiotics for as long as possible, 10 day course, 14 day course, however long as possible. And when you do that, we were not paying attention to the fact that we were also killing off all of the good bacteria that exists within our body. Right? When you have that skewing of your microbiome and all the good bacteria, remember, because we're essentially billions of bacteria, that's what's keeping us alive. That's when your immune system gets Nuts. That's when it goes awry. That's when you start developing allergies and autoimmune disease.

[Louise Nicola]

I want to talk about the institutional failure in your perspective. And I think there was an Israeli or the American Academy of Pediatrics, the 2001 guidance and the Israel comparison. 10 versus 2%.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

You've done your research. I love this. So, like I said, in the 1990s, we started to see an increased rise in allergies. Right? Why? Okay. We're in the developed world. We're seeing fewer parasitic infections and types of infections. Our Th2 immune system system starting to become dormant. We're prescribing antibiotics like crazy. We're starting to see increased incidence of C sections. Right. So you're bypassing that first exposure to bacteria in the vaginal canal. Everybody's being sold everything about how to keep everything perfectly clean and your baby's clean. And we're in, you know, keep your babies in a bubble and don't come anywhere near germs and all this sort of stuff. And all these products being sold and introduced, everything's antibacterial, Right. That is likely the reason why we saw the increased incidence in allergy. Right. But we started to see this increase in sleep incidents, and we saw in peanut allergy and nut allergies and food allergies in particular in children. Also, peanut is a choking hazard, so it's the easiest one to put on the chopping block by the American Academy of Pediatrics to say, we're seeing this increase in allergy. You know what? Delay introduction. We didn't understand that the early exposures were important, right? And you got to give science a break, right? Where you say, well, we were doing this based off of the information we knew at the time. Now, 30 years later, we know a lot more about what the immune system needs and how the immune system works. And hindsight is 20, 20, 20. But anyway, at the time, they made a decision to, say, delay the introduction to peanut till after the age of two with a belief, a belief that the immune system needed to mature. And once the immune system was matured, it would be mature enough to recognize that peanut is a normal food. Right. That's not what happened. And what's critically important and what we realize now is exposures within the first 12 months of life.

[Louise Nicola]

Life.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

That's actually what's most important. So that our starting with birth through the vaginal canal so that our immune system develops properly. Right. What I said in the beginning, it's all about the inputs, like a computer System, the inputs that you feed the algorithm with, right. You know, the inputs that you give to your immune system so that it grows and develops and knows how to show up in the world properly. Right. So what happened is no introduction of peanut until after the age of two. Right. But then you still had, had peanut butter everywhere. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Kids going to school, older siblings, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, whatever, there's still peanut butter in the house. So what happened was the exposure to peanut became through the skin, through touch. Right. Because there were still peanut places. So this is the theory is that the initial sensitization to peanut was through the skin. Your skin is actually your first and largest immune system organ. Right. So if when you're exposed to something through the skin immediately your immune system says this is something foreign and it reacts to, because normally it's a virus or bacteria, you get a cut, you get a scrape, there's a bacterial thing, it fights. So if you're getting exposed through the skin and that's your initial exposure, right? So imagine peanut powder, peanut protein from residual surfaces, right? And then it doesn't see it ever again, right? Just through the skin. Then after the age of two you start to introduce it and the body's like what? That's that stuff that I came exposed on my skin, that's something foreign. I'm going to develop an allergic response to it. So that's kind of like the theory and the mechanism around this.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Okay, I am the coffee queen. I love coffee. And by the way, a recent study showed that coffee actually up to three cups a day, can reduce your risk of dementia. That was insane. Now a lot of commercial coffee contains pesticides, mold, toxins and other contaminants that can make people feel awful. This is why I have been using liveboost coffee. Yes, I'm bougie, I have an espresso machine at home. But these Live Boost coffee beans are USDA certified organic, single origin and tested for more than 450 potential toxins. The result is a coffee that's smoother, lower in acid and much easier on the stomach. If you want to try this and you want to be really elite with your coffee, head to lifeboost coffee.com and use code NEURO for 10% off your order. So one of the newest has hacks that I have been doing, it's not going to be new for you, it's new for me is I have started to introduce probiotics into my system and that's because stress doesn't just affect how we feel it affects absolutely every aspect of my life and this is why I've been interested in the work Just Thrive is doing with their products.

[Louise Nicola]

Just Calm and Just Thrive probiotic.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Just Calm uses psychobiotics and B vitamins to support the gut, the gut brain connection and help regulate the stress response. While their spore based probiotics supports digestion and serotonin production. You know, I don't really trust a lot of the probiotics on the market, which is probably why this is so new to me. But when your gut is functioning well, it has a ripple effect across the entire body like from your mood, your sleep and your overall resilience. So I have researched Just Thrive and Just Calm and let me tell you, this is the one for you, it's the one for me. If you want to try the dynamic duo bundle which is what I'm doing, you can get 20% off at just thrive health.com neuro or just go to the website and use code Neuro. Everything is linked in the show notes below. They also offer a risk free money back guarantee.

[Louise Nicola]

The peanut allergy is so interesting because, because I have, I've been on a plane where a girl actually somebody had a Snickers bar or something like that. I don't know what they had but a girl had an allergic reaction and I think at that point it was insane. We're like literally over the ocean and they had to get the EpiPen and obviously calm her down. But it's interesting because I'm seeing now all over social media that mothers are, are putting peanut butter on their kids cheek early on to teach them I guess.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Yeah, don't do that exact opposite because you don't want the first exposure to be through the skin.

[Louise Nicola]

Okay.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

And I, we often say don't put skincare product, put food products on your skin. That also relates to like the oat baths and the almond oils and all this sort of stuff. You don't want the initial sensitization of a food based product to be on your skin. Skin.

[Louise Nicola]

So what are the mothers meant to do?

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Give them peanut powder. Give orally.

[Louise Nicola]

Oh, give, give a baby between zero

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

to two, four to six within the early introduction. Within four to six months. Right.

[Louise Nicola]

Peanut powder.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Yeah. Or bomba. So we go back to the case study in Israel and why the incidence of peanut allergy in Israel is 0.2% and here we're approaching 10%.

[Louise Nicola]

Wow.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

0.2% developed country. So it's not all, you know, that's, that's not the game here versus up to 10 in the United States. Right. Why? Because teething rings in Israel are made of bomba, which is made of peanuts. So little babies are sucking on bomba and like teething rings very, very early on. So we realize and understand. And then we started to actually do something called the LEAP study where we looked at people that were children who are high risk for developing allergies because they had a family history or a sibling with an allergy gave them peanut early on. Lo and behold, they didn't have allergies.

[Louise Nicola]

Allergies.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Early introduction. So I talked about the skin being a immune system organ that is very reactive. Right. The gut, the GI tract is very tolerant. So you want to introduce the food through the GI tract first. Then it's okay to put the food products on your skin or whatever. But that intro, initial introduction should not be on the cheek.

[Louise Nicola]

Yeah.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

You're going to end up sensitizing your child. And then when you do give them peace at again, all the stars need to be lined. There's some genetic factors and other things at play. Right. It's not every single person is going to develop the allergy. But you do not want to introduce a food product initially on the skin. You, because again, this is not an immune tolerant or this is not an immune tolerant organ. These, your skin is going to react. Introduce it through your GI tract. Very tolerant, breaks it down, is like, oh, this isn't something foreign. This is a nutrient. This has got a bunch of protein. This is a food.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

I should eat it.

[Louise Nicola]

Dangerous.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Break it down. No early introduction. It's dangerous to delay introduction.

[Louise Nicola]

What else should a mother or father be giving their kids in that time frame?

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

All foods. As long as they're not a choking hazard. Right. As long as they're pureed. The biggest thing in that age group is choking hazard. Also breastfeeding is important and the reason breastfeeding is important is because you don't have. An infant doesn't have the immune system markers like it's not producing antibodies yet. So the only way that the baby gets antibodies against infection is through maternal milk. So you want to breastfeed, ideally, if you can, for the first four to six months. There's some data to say beyond that, but really those first four months when you're, when the baby doesn't have antibodies to infections because they haven't been exposed to things yet, you get passive immunity mini from your mother's breast milk where you collect essentially all your mom's antibodies so that you're not at risk for infection. During those critical first six months of life.

[Louise Nicola]

It's interesting what you said, and this was, I think I heard you say this on another podcast. You said that nut free schools are going to create the next allergy epidemic.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

It's driving me crazy. And it's not to say, look, I have a number of patients who have not allergy and it's very skin scary, right? And you're. So I want to just acknowledge you're, you're having your child go into a school, right? And then other kids are eating nuts and there's a fear, right? Oh my gosh, what if they share food with my child? What if they, you know, come into contact with not, you know, all this stuff? So it's a very scary world to be in as a parent of a child with food allergy. And so I want to acknowledge that, that said, said, what is happening with nut free schools? Number one, we are literally characterizing nuts in the same way. We're characterizing like sugars and seed oil and people are like, it's nut free and it's seed oil free and it's sugar free. Okay? There's a huge difference. But nuts are good for you, they're healthy. There's a big difference between no sugary snacks and chocolates and like a nut free school. Because what's happening is we're delaying introduction of nuts to children because as a parent, I'm not going to go and buy snacks with nuts and in them for my kids or even have them in my house because I can't bring them to school, right? So as a parent, I'm like, okay, what's safe to bring to school? Okay, nut free, fine. I'm just not going to buy, you know, snacks with nuts in them. So you have to be very, very intentional about making sure your child gets exposure to nuts like outside of school so that you don't suddenly see this whole. I, I predict there's going to be an increased incidence of nut allergy in school age children because we are inadvertently avoiding it across an entire population. No one, no kid in school can eat nuts, which means most parents don't have them as snacks, which means most kids are just avoiding them out of convenience of like, yes, nut free because it's just easier to do. So, number one, nuts are not bad. Sugar is bad. We should not have sugary snacks in school. Completely agree. Don't also characterize that alongside nuts. Number two, nut allergy is not going to be transmitted through the air, okay? It gets transmitted through surfaces, contact with surfaces. Otherwise like you'd be walking in a supermarket. Like, no allergic kid would be able to walk into a supermarket because, oh, well, there's nuts there and there's like the almond and peanut scooper things, right. Where people go like. But there's the only food allergen that you need to be concerned about in terms of sensitization from the air would be fish. And that's if, like you're at a fish boil and you actually, like, can smell the fish in the air and it becomes overwhelmed and it's suspended in the air. When it comes to peanut and tree nut allergen, it's direct ingestion or contact with a surface and then you're touching your face, you're licking your finger or something like that.

[Louise Nicola]

Yeah.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

So like, we need to normalize that. Like nut free tables. We need to educate, not sharing snacks and that your food is your food. We need to make sure that teachers and aides and everybody in the lunchrooms are aware and able to treat anaphylaxis. There should be EpiPens in all schools.

[Louise Nicola]

Yeah, right.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Like that's how we address this as opposed to removing tree nuts from an entire population. Because now we're putting the rest of the population at risk for an allergy, just like we did when we made the recommendation to not have peanuts before the age of two. And then we literally increase the incidence of peanut allergy by 100 fold.

[Louise Nicola]

I have to keep going back to institutional. Okay. Institutional failures and awareness on social media. You seem very passionate. I know that you're, you're a board certified internal medicine physician, but you're also an immune allergy.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Immunology. Yeah, allergy, okay, the hands mouthful it is.

[Louise Nicola]

But you're very, you're very passionate and you're very driven. You have the data. Does it get you mad when you see people on Instagram spreading, albeit their claims, their misinformation?

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

And not just that I'm seeing so

[Louise Nicola]

many people actually demolish. Demolish nuts as a whole. You know, people are getting scared of nuts because you've got some biohacker who will remain unnamed telling us that there's, you know, mold all over our nuts anyway, so does this really, does this matter? Does it upset you?

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Yeah, it's really tough. And it's, it's, it's a very interesting world we're in right now, right? Because you look at, you know, you find you watch one thing on nuts that are bad for you, right? And maybe that thing is not very, like, polarizing. It's just like hey, my kids. It has a nut allergy. I avoid all nuts. I don't like nuts. But then you watch that. So then the algorithm feeds up, the next thing that's a little bit more polarizing, and then the next thing that's a little more polarizing, and then it's all over your feed. And now you've created someone who's so incredibly passionate about the fact that nuts are bad for you. Whether it's nuts or anything else, it's yes, partially the people, partially the algorithm. It really is a challenge out there. And like, I just wish that people could recognize that. Right. And that, you know, it's part individuals, part algorithm, and not live in extremes. I'm seeing it across the board, across every single health topic imaginable, everything. And like, we are becoming so polarized. Sure. People are going to be mad at me saying this. Right. And I. What I'd like to say is, like, there are two sides of a story. There's also data and knowledge and evidence and history.

[Louise Nicola]

Yeah.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

So what I ask people to do is like, you know, lean in on people that, you know, are like reputable sources, credible individuals, credible people, you know, don't be afraid to, like, ask questions if you're not sure. But don't go down this, like, die hard path. Whatever it is you're seeing on social media, whether it's peptides or skin care, it's what? It's just the wild west.

[Louise Nicola]

It's the wild West. I know I talk about that often. Okay. I want to talk about adulthood and developing allergies as you get older, for example. I, for some, I don't think it's an allergy. I love kiwi fruits, but it makes my tongue a bit weird. But I still like them. Nothing, nothing detrimental happens. I don't stop breathing, but it does. And I never had this when I was younger.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

So a couple of things. One thing is called oral food allergy syndrome. So if you're depending on what grass pollen you're allergic to.

[Louise Nicola]

Yeah.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Kiwis are fruit. Like, there's grasses and trees, there's plants. So there's cross reactivity. So sometimes if you're allergic to something in the environment, you can also react to the fresh, a fresh fruit that has very similar protein components, so your body can't tell the difference. You're like, why are you chewing on that grass leaves that I'm allergic to? Right. Because they're in the same family. So that could be part of the issue. The other part of the issue is that certain fruits are very high in histamine and allergic type cells. So just the content of the food itself, if you eat enough of it. Pineapple is another example where you like kind of get an itchy tongue. Yes. Yeah. And it like doesn't matter. And it's because it contains histamine. And histamine is a chemical that our allergy cells release when we have a reaction and it's responsible for itching, swelling, redness, congestion.

[Louise Nicola]

Okay, that's it. Okay. So can you put it in the

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

microwave for like a couple minutes or a couple of seconds and that can denature the protein just enough against hot pineapple in Australia.

[Louise Nicola]

I don't know if they do it here in Australia. Pineapple on. They put pineapple on pink pizzas. I'm going to lobby against that if

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

I maybe just like simmer. Maybe people don't like microwaves, just like just increase the temperature just enough to denature the protein so that it doesn't cause the allergy.

[Louise Nicola]

Well, likely there's a lot of adults who are suddenly developing shellfish allergies or other allergies to food. They've eaten their entire lives, but now they're getting it.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

It's frustrating, right? So in terms of shellfish allergy, which is the one allergy that we do see, we see in adults right? Over the age of 40 where. And it's, I mean it's the like worst thing ever to have a shellfish. I personally love shellfish. Here's the least current theory around this and it has to do with two, two major factors. One is the use of alcohol and the other is the overuse of antacids. And I don't want to say overuse, it's not people's fault. But people are popping were prescribed and popping Nexium and Pepcid and stuff like crazy for gerd, for acid reflux drugs, for bloating, all their GI symptoms, right? It's one of. Nexium is one of like the most prescribed medications in 90s, 2000s, even up till today. So these, all these antacids, right? All of these over the counter things, Nexium, the things that are called proton pump inhibitors which prevent your stomach from producing acid. Well, what also happens in your stomach is digestion, right? So when you're messing with your PH of your stomach, either through antacids or a frequent alcohol use use, it doesn't break down foods as well as it used to. And shellfish in particular doesn't get broken down properly. Now again, this isn't in Everybody. But it's the perfect storm of some genetic predisposition, maybe some antibiotic use and then regular use of antacids and alcohol in those populations. Right. It changes the way that you break down. Let's shellfish. Right. And now something that was normally tolerated by the GI tract. Oh, Broke down into tiny peptides that look like a squiggly line. Right. Now that squiggly line looks like two dashes. And your body's like, wait a minute, that's something foreign. Because the way in which your body is breaking down, that food inside your stomach is now altered because of your ph and the acidity and the suppression of the acid and all these antacids and alcohol which now have impacted the cellular structure and function of your digestive enzymes in your stomach. Right now the protein from shellfish looks foreign. What happens? Allergy. Because your immune system is reacting to something foreign. So now your Th2 cells are like, yes, I have something to do. And now you've developed a shellfish allergy.

[Louise Nicola]

Oh, that's why. And can anyone, can they do something about it?

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Not really. You have to avoid shellfish, unfortunately.

[Louise Nicola]

So once you get it, that's it.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Yeah. Now there is.

[Louise Nicola]

That's so sad.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Although I should say there is more. There are more treatments that are available that didn't used to be before. One is called oral immunotherapy. Hasn't really been studied in the shellfish population. As much allergic population as it has in peanut milk, egg, tree nut, where you actually are given small amounts of what you're allergic to. There's actually like an FDA approved peanut powder where you go into the allergist's office and you get small amounts of it until your body can actually tolerate it and you train your immune system to no longer be allergic to. To it. So there is that. But you have to continue to be on those little amounts of peanut powder throughout your life so that your body remembers, hey, this is something normal. This is something normal. There's also a therapy called Zolair, which is an anti IgE therapy. IgE is the antibody that activates your allergy cells. Right. So it basically calms your immune system down so much it's a once a month injection so that you're able to tolerate, tolerate small amounts of the allergen. So if you have a shellfish allergy, it doesn't mean you're going to be able to go eat a ton of shrimp cocktail. What it means is you don't have to worry if you ordered a piece of Fish and a piece of shrimp accidentally, like, you know, shrimp juice got on it. And we call those the accidental ingestions, where you're not actually eating the physical food, but there's a small trace amount of it. Maybe it also helps people if they have a tree nut allergy. And like there's a food that says maybe made in a facility that contains peanuts, that you don't have to be like, so hyper vigilant and worry because your body can handle trace amounts of it because you're getting an injection that blunts your overall allergic response.

[Louise Nicola]

Oh, okay.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

So it just is like turning down the. Because you are in a allergic state or more of a hypervigilant allergic state. So it's used for people with chronic hives and it's FDA approved for that. It's used for people with allergic asthma. Already approved for that. Right. And now we're seeing a new indication for people, people with food allergies who are worried about an accidental ingestion. Hey, have this zoler in your system once a month. So if you accidentally are exposed to something in a trace amount, you don't have to worry because your allergic response system is blunted.

[Louise Nicola]

Okay, well, why don't we now talk about food sensitivity tests. And I know you have a lot to say about this. IGG panels food intolerant test, the $300 wellness test sold through through influences. What?

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

What are these?

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Baloney?

[Louise Nicola]

No, because I actually, when I did a blood test, they're like add food sensitivity test on there.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

You sure? They'll suggest tons of unnecessary tests, but. So here's the thing. Food sensitivity and food intolerance are real things.

[Louise Nicola]

Yes.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

There's not a good blood test to determine that. So you probably got a whole list back. And you're like, tomatoes, peaches. I eat those things all the time. What do you mean? And so what had happens you inadvertently like, well, cut things or unnecessarily cut things out of your diet, and it makes absolutely no difference. So if you want to go through that path, go right ahead. Those probably aren't the foods that are triggers for you. There are 10 foods that are the likely triggers for most people's sensitivities and intolerances. And you can just do a food elimination diet if you want to be kind of aggressive and say, I'm just going to stop eating these 10 things. And they just so happen to also be the things that most commonly cause allergies. So milk, dairy, egg, peanuts, tree nut, soy, fish, shellfish, like, you know, and then you can consider sesame on there as well. So you could be like, I'm just going to cut these 10 things out, right? And especially for things like dairy or, like, and gluten, wheat is the last one. I can just cut out dairy and gluten or wheat and see if I feel better. Right. And starting there. Or you can do the full elimination where you cut out those 10 things. And it really depends on, like, okay, what is it that you're asking? You know, your. What are your symptoms? Are you having skin type symptoms? Are you having GI symptoms? Bloating, whatever it is. There's also, like, food triggers for migraines. But the good news is, like, we already know what the triggers are. Acne, eliminate these foods. Migraines, eliminate these foods. Bloating, eliminate these foods. Like, you know, diarrhea, eliminate these foods. So anyway, there's like a way to do it without the. The tests are not really necessary. And you're going to end up with all of these, these like, random positive tests and not know what to do with them.

[Louise Nicola]

Okay, I did not know that.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

It's like flipping a coin.

[Louise Nicola]

Yeah. You know, another thing I wanted you to clear up. Now I live. I live in Manhattan, and now I'm at the busiest point in my life, right? So I notoriously make my own food every single day. But now that I'm getting busier, I'm now getting. I'm trying to find. Locate a. A place that can make my food for me, Right. A healthy version. But what I find is that they come in these black plastic containers. Now, this is not about the plastic. You know, microplastics, right?

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

No, no.

[Louise Nicola]

I've heard you say that black plastic is harmful when you heat it in a microwave. I've never heard black plastic.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Yes. And it's not just heating it in a microwave, it's how hot the food is. Like, oh, the Chinese food restaurants are the worst. We're literally like, the container is warping by the time it comes to me. And I'm like, okay, so here's the thing with black plastic and why in particular, it's dangerous. And it also refers to, like, the appliances that you're using in things too, like your kitchen utensils. Because of the recycling process and the way recycling occurs, anything that's black goes into one bin, right? So that includes kitchen utensils, but it also includes, like, anything here that you see that is plastic, including electronics, right? So like your computer screens, your TV screens, your kitchen appliances, all these things, many of which have been treated with Chemical flame retardants. Right. So now the recycling can't tell the difference between what's an electronic plastic and what is a kitchen utensil plastic. And it all gets melted down in the same way and recycled in the same way. So then there is a chance that your kitchen utensil or your kitchen container or your food containers or whatever contain chemical flame retirement retardants. So then you heat them up and those chemical flame retardants are volatile organic compounds which are not meant to be heated up and they get into your food. And that's the reason why black plastic is something that is on the no fly list.

[Louise Nicola]

Yeah, but it's the same as all plastics. If you heat normal plastic, whether it's clear plastic, I guess it's the same thing.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Yes. But in this case, clear plastics typically not treated with chemical flame retardants. The issue is the electronic waste. Right. And like every single TV frame, every single computer frame, all those plastics that are used in electronics, that, your stereo systems, all of that. Right. Those are black plastics that are treated with flame retardants.

[Louise Nicola]

That is, that is sickening. Well, what can you do? It's not like you can call the restaurant and say. So I, I must say, one of my favorite restaurants is called Len Len. Okay. It's, you know, it's down on Park Avenue. It's a, it's, it's a Thai restaurant. And what am I going to do? Call them and say, listen, you're going

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

have to be like, listen, I'm a regular. Yeah, here's my glass, like Tupperware. Put my name on it when I order. Put the food in this.

[Louise Nicola]

What about the, the Chinese containers, the white little paper ones?

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

I think it's the same issue with BPA and those things that are aligned with bpa. The same thing with like the coffee to go, cups that are probably BPA lined again, which is a toxin. And it's all these things you don't think of. And like one of the times, you know, I get criticized on social media because I'm like, don't touch this and don't do this. At the end of the day, it's about awareness, right? And like little choices and decisions that you make, right. For your, you know, for your home with kitchen utensils. It's like, oh, I just bought the black plastic ones because I thought they were pretty, you know. Now if, you know, I should go for like wood or stainless steel. Okay, great, Easy switch. So like my role is to just bring awareness to some of these things. And of course you have like the fear factor of don't touch this. I never do this in my everyday life. I just had a coffee cup from the, you know, from wherever. And I'm sure there was a BPA line drink, but I wanted my coffee, you know, but at least you have awareness so that generally speaking, overall, you could start to make healthier decisions. If you don't know.

[Louise Nicola]

Yeah.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Then you don't. You know, it's. It's a shame.

[Louise Nicola]

It's Little bit.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Yeah, exactly.

[Louise Nicola]

Do you touch receipts?

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

I hate receipts. So I wasn't touching receipts before this because I'm like, no, I don't want this paper receipt that's going to sit in my bag and just like, what am I going to do with it? Am I ever going to, like, have you ever looked at a receipt to prove that someone overcharged you? Now you talk to your credit card company or you're like, okay, fine, it was $3. That was annoying, right? Yeah, but no. So I've never touched receipts for that very reason. And now even more so. But like, look, taking the receipt now, my. My kids are like, mommy, don't touch that.

[Louise Nicola]

Exactly. Yeah. You know, everyone's so petrified of receipts. And a new phenomenon is blending. Don't blend. You know, your blender should be glass, not plastic. Albeit, I'm glad that they said that my bl is. Is glass, but the bottom of it is black plastic. Plastic. Yeah, but.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

I know, but what are you going to do? What are you going to do exactly? Look, we need to have enough awareness around it so that companies start to create alternatives that are healthy alternatives. Like, it has to come from the consumer being like, well, I'm not buying this anymore. Right. Then for companies to actually create the change and for our government to say, this is, you're not allowed to do this anymore, or we have to fix our recycling practices. So, like, you know, it has to start somewhere. We can't just live, you know, under our sheets and be like, oh, I'm not going to touch anything, or I'm. Or I'm just going to live in ignorance. You know, we have to become advocates of this so that we can become healthier, live healthier. It's got to start somewhere.

[Louise Nicola]

If someone listening right now suspects that they or their child has an allergy, what is the actual pathway?

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

So the first things first is like, characterizing what the symptoms are and the why behind what's going on. So in terms of allergies to things in the environment, here are the Symptoms or things to look out for or be concerned about in babies and in young children. Eczema, Allergic eczema. So that's typically what we see first. Then you start to see runny nose, congestion, itchy eyes. Sometimes they'll have a little nasal crease right here. And it's called the allergic salute because little kids are doing this all the time. If your kid's doing this all the time, they probably have allergies. Allergies, Dark circles under their eyes.

[Louise Nicola]

Wait, what does the dark circles do? Because I. I have those.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

It could be allergies. See if it's worse in May and June, the dark circles on your eyes, because you end up with, like, vasodilation, because your immune system is starting to get, like, activated and stuff, and the skin underneath your eyelids is very thin. So you start to see the dilation of the blood vessels, which then looks like a darkish, you know, bluish purplish underneath your eyes. So if you work to constrict those blood vessels by calming down inflammation, your nose, your under eye circles can get better. And if you treat the underlying allergy with immunotherapy, you may not have dark circles under your eyes at all. Okay, so eye symptoms, itchy eyes, rubby eyes, coughing. Those are all allergy symptoms that last more than a week. Right. Runny eyes, runny nose, cough, whatever. You know, that's likely a virus. If it's lasting seven to 10 days, but longer than that for months at a time, that's likely out allergies. And then as it relates to food allergy, you'd know your kid eats something, and all of a sudden their face blows up, they have hives, they vomit. Those are all signs of a food allergy. Sometimes, though, if a child is kind of eating something regularly and they have very, very bad eczema and their eczema keeps getting worse, we typically see this in kids under the age of two. It could be a manifestation of a food allergy.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

How about red eyes?

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Itchy red eyes, Absolutely. That's allergic conjunctivitis. And. And this time of year, it's really important. Pollen can get stuck in between your eyelashes. It gets stuck in your hair. It loves hair products. The false eyelashes, Pollen will get stuck in there. And then you're told, like, not to scrub because you don't want to disturb the lashes. So itchy eyes are really a thing. And also, people can react to eyelash glue, and they don't want to believe it's the eyelashes. But if you have any redness or like a little skin patch right here or your eyes start to tear or you get a runny nose within a couple of days of getting your fake eyelashes. Eyelashes, Eyelash glue.

[Louise Nicola]

I feel like I need to go home and take a low dose antihistamine every day.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Yeah, yeah, you may need to. I mean that's. That can kind of blunt that allergic response, block systemine from being released from your allergy cells. And some people do that as a preventive measure so that their symptoms aren't triggered.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

How do you feel about Benadryl?

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

I don't like Benadryl. And especially. So Benadryl is one of the older antihistamines. Right. We've gotten a lot better with antihistamines. Benadryl crosses the blood brain barrier. Right.

[Louise Nicola]

They do say that it's a risk factor for dementia.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Yeah, absolutely. And not only that, so it's a risk independent risk factor for the development of Alzheimer's. It also causes short term memory loss. You see on the bottle, like you can't operate heavy machinery when you're on it, which also means it stays in your system like for the next day, like for 24 hours. You shouldn't be. So it alters your mental state, your memory, your cognition. It also has anticholinergic effects. So it's, it can, that means impacts your ability to pee. And so you can have like bladder retention, can end up with constipation. So there's a whole host of side effects. Arrhythmias is another one. And like when we have so many other second generation newer antihistamines that don't cause these symptoms, I really don't see why Benadryl is even needed in the market anymore. And so then they're like, oh, we'll just make it a sleep aid because people get groggy from it. Number one, you can get a paradoxical effect, especially if you give it to kids where you think you're like, give your kids some Benadryl on an airplane plane to go to sleep and then they're like wired and up. It could also contribute to restless leg syndrome where like the kids are kicking around and even in adults after. So like. And also it doesn't improve the quality of your sleep. So you may be drowsy, but you're not getting deep restorative sleep. So it doesn't work for that use case either.

[Louise Nicola]

Yeah, I've seen some of my friends give baby. Is it baby Benadryl? Yeah, yeah, they shouldn't do that. Dr. Tanya Elliot. This is part one of our immune series. Thank you so much for coming in and being on the podcast.

[Dr. Tanya Elliott]

Thanks for having me. This was so much fun.

[SoFi Ad Voice]

High interest debt can be a real vibe killer. Credit cards, personal loans, and more can make you feel uncomfortable even in the sanctuary of your own home. Well, what if you knew that SoFi can help you leverage your home's equity to feel more at ease? It's called a SOFI Home Equity Loan, and it could consolidate your debt at a typically lower interest rate than existing debt with lower monthly payments, and all while keeping your existing mortgage rate. View your [e-mail] payoffdebt today, mortgages originated by SoFi bank and a member FDIC and MLS number 696891. Terms like conditions apply. Equal housing lender.