UPDATES
Part
6
in a series
Demystified
Myth: Hay fever is caused by the blooming flowers in the spring season. Fact: Grass and trees are the culprits, plus more myths surround those irksome seasonal allergies, commonly known as hay fever. One such myth is that hay fever, or any allergy for that matter, can’t develop once you reach adulthood. According to Medical News Today, this is untrue. One study published in JAMA Network Open looked at the prevalence of allergies in 40,443 US adults, and found that in around half of those individuals with allergies, at least one of their allergies developed during adulthood. Another fact that comes as a surprise to many is that hay fever, or allergic rhinitis, is not caused by flowers, but rather by airborne pollen. Flowers tend to produce large, sticky pollen, which does not fly through the air easily. They’re designed to attract insects and fasten pollen to their bodies rather than release it into the air. The major causes of hay fever are lighter pollen from grasses and trees. Ever wondered about the term “hay fever”? It stems from yet another expired myth: the condition is not caused by hay, nor is fever a symptom of the condition. In 1819, John Bostock, an English contributor to medical research, coined the term when he noticed hay fever symptoms as a result of what he thought was exposure to hay. A while later, hay was disregarded as the culprit, but the name remained. 26
WELLSPRING / MAY 2023
