Pink fingers

Easter weekend was going to be challenging as we have had a great deal of family festivity. And we are enjoying an astonishing bout of late April sunshine - the air is awash with various kinds of seed, blossom and pollen. I don't get allergic hay fever, so I'm told - but I seem to get pseudo-hay fever caused by exposure to floating vegetable matter.

I've been taking montelukast daily for the last few days - and have also concentrated on eating fish - following the reappearance of the speckled rash on my belly as well as the odd symptom of sinusitis.

We went to a Thai restaurant, where I ordered prawn crackers, trout and egg fried rice. You never know for sure what other spices and herbs have been added - I was hoping not too many to these dishes.

When I pressed anything against my fingers during the meal, a bright pink rash appeared. At first I thought it was just my index finger, which I'd burnt on a light bulb the night before. I thought it was a kind of blistering - but it did not last long. However these rashes appeared on the fingers of both hands. They were a kind of bright pink - I tried to find the colour and consulted this site http://www.december.com/html/spec/color4.html. Spicy pink perhaps? Well it was a Thai restaurant.

Today there is no sign of this happening. Weird.

Using the ever-helpful Wikipedia I've found a benign condition called dermatographic urticaria. It seems the best explanation for the moment.

RAS

No bananas?

This Danish study alarmed me as it says what I've always feared someone would say - that bananas aren't that great for you. Nor grapes.

The authors claim it pretty well settles the question of which diet to use to lose weight - low-carb, low fat and high protein. That seems to have sense, but what about fish - which surely is quite heavy in fish fat? I rely on bananas for my five-a-day, I find Golden Delicious apples increasingly unpalatable and probably rather more expensive than cheap bananas.

The conclusions of the Danish study are interesting but I'm not sure it settles the question of diet. For a start it involved barely a thousand families. I am certainly still stepping up my consumption of fish. I've just discovered the joy of grilled sardines. The grill helps to heat the house on a cold day and they make a reasonable quick snack for lunch or a light dinner.

And the good news is that my left arm has all but healed - no doubt thanks to grilled sardines. It has taken weeks but now it is no more than a little stiff - and it is getting better not worse in spite of Britain's icy weather. It's been a slow process and that's my excuse for only posting once before in November.

RAS

Fish oil toothpaste?

Scientists seem to have confirmed what some of us have known for a while - that fish oils can prevent gum disease.

http://www.englemed.co.uk/10/10nov022_fish_oil_gums.php

This is the story that we know: gum disease is not only caused by infection but by inflammation;

if you have salicylate hypersensitivity you know that eating fish will reduce reactions and reduce inflammation.

What's  interesting about this sort of study is whether it is, in fact, picking up and averaging out the impact on a sub-group of people who react badly to omega-6. Or whether everyone benefits from this kind of effect. In the research 8.2 per cent of people had gum disease.

There could even be other explanations. For instance that eating oily fish or cod liver oil kills the appetite and deters the consumption of sugary foods - Atkins diet style. Just a thought.

Toothpaste made of fish oil anyone?

RAS

Fish and rheumatism

I'm intrigued and encouraged by this recent analysis of allergy prevention, suggesting that eating fish is one of the best ways of dealing with problems.

There doesn't seem to be an explanation for this. In the case of salicylate hypersensitivity, there appears to be a very clear explanation as I discovered a couple of years ago. This is that the condition is caused by a reaction between omega -6, found in meat, and salicylate. So substituting fish, which has omega-3 fats, for meats can help prevent these reactions.

This is not necessarily what happens in classical IGe allergy (in truth, I don't know.) So are the benefits of fish thrown up because studies of diets include a number of people with salicylate problems? Or does it provide other benefits for allergy sufferers, eg in reducing inflammation?

Today I went for another Chinese buffet. I forgot to take a montelukast before going. A few days ago I wrenched my arm. I had picked up one of those cheap plastic containers full of papers and one end broke. The container slumped down, twisting my arm. It seemed to recover with some minor aching, but tonight my left hand aches like Hades, just about on the index finger. I thought I had a pretty safe meal at the Chinese - but if you eat anything remotely processed you cannot be sure what's in it. My feast today included cauliflower cheese, plain chicken in batter and biscuit pudding - plenty of opportunity for odd chemicals and components to creep in.

I really do not want to get rheumatism in my hand so I have now taken a montelukast.

RAS

Fish pasta sauce

 I promised to list all the recipes I've put together and then discovered I had never posted some of them.

So here is a simple and quick fish-based pasta sauce:

start cooking your pasta

• chop white cabbage and leek;
• stir fry in saucepan until white cabbage starts to brown;
•  add tin of fish - sardines or mackerel are best but tuna is manageable;
• add parsley;
  
• stir until it simmers;
• add milk, also yoghurt, cream or cheese if you wish;
• simmer and stir until pasta is ready.

Delicious!


RAS