ALLERGY\THE GREAT CONTROVERSY: BELIEF AND DISBELIEF
So far, we have only looked at attitudes to food intolerance in terms of beliefs and preconceived ideas, which will undoubtedly seem odd to anyone with a scientific turn of mind. In theory, medical beliefs should be secondary to the scientific evidence, for or against, although in reality they rarely are. Dr David Atherton of the Institute of Child Health in London, who specializes in treating eczema, writes: ‘I am often asked by sceptical colleagues whether I “believe in all this food business”? It is a sad reflection on current medical practice that such an important question as the relationship between a patient’s diet and their disease should be relegated to one of belief or disbelief.’
In the next section we will consider the scientific evidence, but as we do so the importance of prejudice will again become evident. Even in the most scientific studies of this subject, it seems that the beliefs of the experimenters can influence the outcome. In general, those who ‘believe’ in food intolerance tend to get positive results, while the disbelievers usually get negative results. The conclusions you draw from this will, of course, be influenced by what you believe! But, as we hope to show, there are simple explanations for these apparently contradictory findings.
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Tags: Allergies
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