Scientists have made a sensational suggestion that hay fever, which plagues about 35% of the world’s population, may protect people from brain tumors. This statement is based on a study by doctors from US hospitals of about a thousand patients, of whom 334 had glioma – a tumor of the brain and spinal cord, and 612 did not suffer from any cancer. Curious data emerged – about 35% of cancer patients suffered from hay fever and other types of allergies, and about 45% of non-sick people suffered from allergies of various origins (flowers, wool, fruits).

Among people who had glioma in the last stages, only 10% said that they had been diagnosed with more than three types of allergies throughout their life, and in the focus group, there were about 22% of these. Bridget McCarthy, the organizer of the study, commented on these numbers with the statement that the more deviations a person has in the field of allergic diseases, the less chance of developing cancer. Previously, such numbers were found in inverse proportions in patients with rectal or pancreatic cancer.

Some allergy sufferers were ill with leukemia in childhood, having exacted it. But, on the other hand, the wrong response of the immune system to various allergic stimuli can lead to the development of lung diseases first, and then to cancerous tumors. Scientists explain this connection by the fact that the body of allergy sufferers is more wary of all foreign cells and dangerous substances, thereby giving time to a sharp immune response to the effect. The body’s hyperactive response suppresses the foci of tumor development before they have time to develop.