Batting .500 is good only in baseball and lotteries.

According to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology "a nationwide survey found that more than half (54.6%) of all U.S. citizens test positive to one or more allergens." (AAAAI) Another way to express the results of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey would be to say that of all of the participants tested (not all U.S. citizens were tested, were they? I wasn't tested. Were you?) for more than half, the test results came back positive for at least one of the ten allergens in the test. We can draw one or more conclusions from these test results. One conclusion might be that if we tested 300 million or so U.S. citizens, 150 million or so would test positive for one or more allergens. Another conclusion might be that current testing methods are inconclusive. In fact, the latter is true. False positives occur 50 percent of the time with a higher false positive rate for some allergens. For example, a subject who is allergic to peanuts will test positive for allergy to soybeans 40 percent of the time whether allergic to soy or not. People with allergies to certain pollens will test positive for allergies to bananas and other foods that share similarities with pollen proteins.

RAST tests, with more quantifiable results than skin tests are an indicator of the probability of a reaction to an allergen. That is all RAST tests results indicate. They do not indicate severity or type of reaction, only probability. A high probability of a reaction could be a high probability of any reaction. Reactions include a wide range of severities including minor rashes, hives, nausea, shortness of breath and death. There are currently no tests where results indicate severity of a reaction. We do know, however, that the fatalities from allergy related anaphylaxis are most commonly associated with peanuts and tree nuts.

Our medical advice is that you get your medical advice from reputable medical professionals and that you ask them about the accuracy of allergy testing and how it might apply to your situation.

Thursday night was pizza night and pizza does not have to contain tomato sauce.



This cheeseburger pizza didn't last long enough to get a picture of the pizza intact.



Friday's gluten-free crab cakes rested comfortably in the freezer for a week and then baked at 375 for 45 minutes or so until GB&D. Served on a shrimp bisque with jasmine rice, steamed broccoli, toast points and cole slaw.

So far, the crab cakes are batting 1000.