Nuts about Christmas

Watch online on demand on The Reaction!

Thursday 2 December 2010, 18:00 for 18:30-20.30
The Library, The Chemistry Centre, Burlington House

Almost everyone knows someone with an allergy, whether it is to pet hair, bee stings, shellfish or aspirin. Current estimates suggest that one of every three people in the UK population have or will suffer from an allergy at some time in their life, and these numbers are rising. 

Some allergies are seasonal. Hayfever, an allergy to pollen or other microscopic substances, can make spring and summer an eye-watering, sore-nosed misery. Being allergic to certain moulds can make the shortening days of autumn very depressing and uncomfortable. But when it comes to Christmas, it's those people with the food allergies that have the hard time.

Professor Clare Mills from the Institute of Food Research will delve into the mysteries of food allergies, using some festive examples to shed light on the how's and why's of these immune responses to otherwise harmless substances.

Watch this lecture on demand on The Reaction.