Max Wiseberg joined The Kent Morning Show to talk about the increase in pollen levels across the South East.
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00:00I was interested in if it changes, kind of region by region, because I've previously had some experiences with hay fever here in Kent.
00:09I used to work in the countryside over near Canterbury, and I found it was really bad over there.
00:13Is it something that changes region by region? Is it perhaps worse here in Kent because we are known as the Garden of England?
00:20Absolutely, absolutely. So if you look at the pollen forecast and you look at the regions, it shows it in regions,
00:29and Kent and the south-west and the south-east, the southern counties were almost always worse.
00:38So, yeah, it is. I mean, if you want to get relief from pollen, go and live in the Hebrides or somewhere up north,
00:45because it's much better in Scotland.
00:47Yeah, around 25% of hay fever sufferers are allergic to tree pollen.
00:53You are the pollen expert. I have no idea about pollen.
00:56And I didn't even know there was really tree pollen, and I suppose it's obvious that there is.
01:01But how does it differ, and how does it affect people differently?
01:04Why is tree pollen worse than, say, pollen from a flower?
01:11OK, easy to answer. Actually, it's tree pollen, grass pollen will come in mid-May onwards,
01:17and then it's weed pollen that really hurts us hay fever sufferers.
01:22And the reason is because it's light. It's light pollen, so it gets airborne, and it goes into the air.
01:32Flower pollen is that they're pollinated by bees and things, so the bees will collect the flower pollen and transfer it from flower to flower.
01:42So that's why the tree pollen and the grass pollen are worse for us, because they're lighter and they get in the air.
01:50And as you say, tree pollen that we've got at the moment, 25% of hay fever sufferers are allergic to tree pollen,
01:56and 95% are allergic to grass pollen, which, as I say, will be coming up from mid-May onwards till the end of July or August.
02:06And that's not always necessarily directly proportional to the pollen forecast.
02:12Sometimes it's just because something weird goes on with my body. It's really difficult to predict.
02:18So if we just diagnose Bartholomew with weirdness, then, from the expert.
02:22Yeah, absolutely.
02:25OK, so fingers crossed that I'm not affected too badly this year, then.
02:28But what are the lessons you can teach us about how we can mitigate some of the effects of pollen and hay fever?
02:34OK, well, the standard stuff is, and everyone tells you about it, it's antihistamines.
02:42Take some antihistamines.
02:44Do be careful with antihistamines, because if they make you drowsy, you mustn't drive or operate machinery.
02:51Steroid nasal sprays, they're good as well.
02:54But prevention is the key.
02:56So if you get something like an allergen barrier balm and you wipe that around the bottom of your nose and round your eyes, if your eyes get itchy, then that stops over a third of the pollen getting in to your body.
03:10So if you're avoiding the allergen, that's really good.
03:14As you said at the beginning, people tell you to stay in and keep the windows closed and the doors closed.
03:20And nobody really wants to do that.
03:22So you want to find some ways of avoiding it.
03:25Obviously, it is worth keeping your eyes.
03:27You know, when you go out the house, keep your windows closed so the pollen doesn't get in when you come back in the house.
03:34Other things, you can wear a cap or a hat if you've got long hair, tie your hair up, pollen gets on your body.
03:42You can eat for your hay fever.
03:46So you can eat things that are rich in quercetin.
03:49Quercetin is a natural antihistamine.
03:51So things like red onions.
03:53Look it up on Wikipedia, things with the highest quercetin content and eat a load of those.