Allergy and sports.

Abstract

At the beginning of the third millennium, physicalexercise is often seen as a kind of panacea (a Greekword meaning ‘‘a cure for every sickness’’): there is nodoubt that it induces an increase in an individual’ssocialization and self-esteem, but it also has positivephysiologic and psychologic effects, improving thefunctioning of the cardiovascular, respiratory, andmuscular systems, and leading to modifications indiet. Sports competitions are now an important part ofeconomic, social, and cultural life, and leading athletesrepresent a model to be imitated by the majority ofyoung people and children. Thus, a large proportion ofthe young population practice exercise and sports inorder to achieve the best results from their bodies.Because allergic illnesses in industrialized countriesaffect 10–25% of the population (1), it may reasonablybe hypothesized that this percentage will be the same forathletes and amateurs of various sporting disciplines.Could it be that a well-trained amateur or aprofessional athlete faces some problems of apseudoallergic type when performing physical exercise?Or is it conceivable that an allergic subject can practicesports at the expert level and, indeed, become achampion?These issues will be examined in this review article.