Like Cameron, Dr. Uli Knorr, a naturopathic physician in Salt Lake City, treats allergy patients by looking at their diet and nutrition. He is a proponent of eating organic foods with fewer preservatives and less sugar.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," Knorr said, quoting the famous phrase by Benjamin Franklin. "A lot of research done on chronic diseases points to nutrition and exercise and lifestyle."

How to reduce your allergic response

Because Utah is at a high elevation with dry temperatures, most physicians agree the state doesn't have as much a problem with dust mites as other states. Still, Dr. Todd Cameron, a naturopathic physician in Sugar House, says it doesn't hurt to buy an allergenic pillow or encase your mattress in a plastic sheet as a filter between you and the dust mites.

Other suggestions to reduce your response to airborne allergens include keeping windows and doors shut, avoiding use of a swamp cooler, changing clothes when you're outside and limiting your outdoor activities when pollen counts are high.

Dr. Charles Rogers advises people to be careful when considering a product touted as something to eliminate allergies.

Statistics

• Hay fever is believed to affect 20 percent of American adults and 40 percent of children

• Allergy shots are usually successful in up to 90 percent of patients with seasonal allergies.

• Allergies and asthma are two of the leading causes of absence from work in the United States.

• More than half of U.S. citizens test positive for one or more allergens.

• Twelve million Americans suffer from food allergies.

SOURCES: American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, National Jewish Health

Resources

• www.aaaai.org

• www.aafa.org

• www.intermountainallergy.com

• www.utahallergies.com

• www.drtoddcameron.com

• www.eastsidenaturalhealth.com

• www.nationaljewish.org

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E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com