Skip to content

We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.

Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.

Help Now >

Female hormone exposes women to life-threatening allergies

Free World Class Education
FREE Catholic Classes
The female sex hormone, estrogen, is linked to an enzyme that causes extreme allergic reactions.

Recent studies show women are at a greater risk of allergic reactions, both fatal and nonfatal.

Light Your Free Payer Candle for a departed loved one

What is Palm Sunday?

Live on March 20, 2024 @ 10am PDT

Highlights

By Abigail James (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
12/29/2014 (9 years ago)

Published in Health

Keywords: allergy, allergies, women, woman, female, hormone, oestrogen, Anaphylaxis

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - A woman's body has female-specific hormones. It is because of these hormones that women are more susceptible to deadly allergic reactions.

Estrogen, the primary female sex hormone, was seen to worsen allergic reactions in lab tests, according to researchers.

Find relief from your allergy symptoms with Body Embrace Headache Compress

Anaphylaxis, an allergic reactions caused by food, insects or medication, causes immune cells to release enzymes that cause tissues to swell and blood vessels to widen making skin flush and rashes to develop.

In extreme cases, anaphylaxis can cause breathing difficulties, shock or heart attacks.

According to previous studies, "women  tend to experience anaphylaxis more frequently than men, but why this difference exists is unclear."

The US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases found the female-specific estradiol, a type of estrogen, enhances the levels of the enzyme that drives allergic reactions. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), the enzyme, is created by estrogen.

Once the researchers blocked eNOS activity, completely erased all allergy differences between the genders. In addition to blocking eNOS, blocking estrogen also had an effect.

"The study had identified a clear link between estrogen and eNOS and severe anaphylactic reactions," said the researchers.

The next step is to use these findings and apply them to developing affective allergy treatments.

---


'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'


Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online

Join the Movement
When you sign up below, you don't just join an email list - you're joining an entire movement for Free world class Catholic education.

Lent logo
Saint of the Day logo

Catholic Online Logo

Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.

Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.