A STRONG cup of coffee may help relieve hay fever, and might even be a
lifesaver for people who suffer potentially fatal reactions to nuts and bee
stings, say researchers in South Korea. They have found that in rats caffeine
can block acute allergic reactions such as anaphylactic shock.
Hay fever and asthma and similar allergies result from an oversensitive
immune system. In susceptible people, contact with substances such as pollen and
dust trigger a reaction from specialised mast cells, which release the chemical
histamine into affected tissues. It’s this histamine that produces the symptoms
familiar to allergy sufferers, such…
