What's the deal with peanut allergies?

[shirleyb]

Why do so many kids have these deadly allergies to peanuts? I don't remember a single kid when I was growing up having one of these critical allergies, but now you hear of so many. What is the cause? And do they ever outgrow it?

 

[becka]

No one really knows why these allergies appear to be on the rise but some suspect it might be environmental. I do know that kids have had peanut alleriges in the past but it was just not widely discussed and you didn't see schools going to such great lengths such as banning peanuts from schools. DH was born in '74 and was diagnosed with his peanut allergy (actually all legumes which includes peanuts, beans, nuts, peas, etc.) when he was 3 or so.

 

[got2travel]

My son was allergic to peanuts when he was younger. He has grown out of it. He's 12 now, but I guess he was about 5 when he unknowingly had a Reeses and didn't have any problems. We've tried other peanut items through the years with no reaction. But he's decided he just doesn't like nuts.

Oh, and he'll tell you he was allergic because when I was pregnant the only thing I craved was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I ate them all the time. Truthfully we don't know what caused the allergy.

 

[LadyJeanPirateQueen]

Well, I don't know what anyone else thinks but I believe it is because people believe that now days you have to over-sanitize everything to death. I mean, you go to the grocery store or WalMart and there are several aisles devoted to nothing but sanitizing type products. I believe if you oversanitize everything, your children won't build up their immunities as well.

My house is clean but it's not totally sanitized. The only things I ever sanitize are the bathrooms 2-3X a week and the kitchen counters once a day. That's it. So far, the only allergy DS has shown was something he wouldn't have been able to avoid anyway and those are grass/mold allergies. Both DH and I have grass/ragweed/mold allergies so we knew DS was probably going to suffer from the same thing.

Ladyjean

 

[Imzadi]

I remember when Jimmy Carter was president & he was known as the "Peanut Farmer President" and peanuts were a good thing. Kids didn't have allergies from them, they weren't separated from others at lunch and peanuts weren't considered so lethal that it kills people.

There were THREE different peanut butter brand commercials on the TV ALL the time: Skippy Peter Pan, and how choosy mothers choose Jif. It was a commercial designed so that the mothers would feel guilty for giving a different brand other than Jif to kids.

Now with so many kids allergic, the peanut butter commercials (which I don't see any) to be politically correct should say,"Caring mothers don't even feed peanut butter to their child lest another dies in the same room."

 

[CEDmom]

I actually read an article in Good Housekeeping or some magazine like that where they were linking mothers consuming large quantities of PB before and during pregnancy. I don't know how valid it is but PB&J didn't have the popularity in the 1930's-60's that it did in the years since then. So many of our parents weren't consuming it while pregnant with us where as parents of today grew up on the stuff.

 

[Imzadi]

I actually read an article in Good Housekeeping or some magazine like that where they were linking mothers consuming large quantities of PB before and during pregnancy. I don't know how valid it is but PB&J didn't have the popularity in the 1930's-60's that it did in the years since then. So many of our parents weren't consuming it while pregnant with us where as parents of today grew up on the stuff.

Hmm, I wonder if it's the new fetal alcohol syndrome? Too much consumption of any few things may be bad for the fetus. Also, there just wasn't all the pesticides they spray on everything today to keep things hardy until they get to market. Yes, the produce may be hardy, but it's killing our kids.

 

[bigmerle1966]

Well, I don't know what anyone else thinks but I believe it is because people believe that now days you have to over-sanitize everything to death. I mean, you go to the grocery store or WalMart and there are several aisles devoted to nothing but sanitizing type products. I believe if you oversanitize everything, your children won't build up their immunities as well.

My house is clean but it's not totally sanitized. The only things I ever sanitize are the bathrooms 2-3X a week and the kitchen counters once a day. That's it. So far, the only allergy DS has shown was something he wouldn't have been able to avoid anyway and those are grass/mold allergies. Both DH and I have grass/ragweed/mold allergies so we knew DS was probably going to suffer from the same thing.

Ladyjean

It could be that and I think there may be something to the age at which kids are exposed to it too. My mother did day care a long time ago and I don't remember there being as strict a guideline as to when children could start eating certain foods other than honey.

 

[RIDISNEYLOVERS]

My cousin, who is now 21, has a severe, life threatening, peanut allergy. When my aunt was pregnant with him she craved Nutter Butter Cookies and ate them all the time. They told her that her eating those cookies did not cause the peanut allergy. But I have always wondered that. She didn't crave those with her 2nd child and does NOT have a peanut allergy.

Peanut Allergies, Diabetes, ADD, ADHD, among other things are becoming epidemic and are really tramatizing our children. You didn't hear children with these things until recently. What can we do to changes this?

 

[LadyShiva]

My cousin, who is now 21, has a severe, life threatening, peanut allergy. When my aunt was pregnant with him she craved Nutter Butter Cookies and ate them all the time. They told her that her eating those cookies did not cause the peanut allergy. But I have always wondered that. She didn't crave those with her 2nd child and does NOT have a peanut allergy.

Peanut Allergies, Diabetes, ADD, ADHD, among other things are becoming epidemic and are really tramatizing our children. You didn't hear children with these things until recently. What can we do to changes this?

Return to breastfeeding our kids. Diabetes, high cholesterol, food allergies, increase in breast cancer rates, etc, are proven to have links to whether the adults were fed formula or breastmilk as children. The increase in food allergies also follows the decrease in successful breastfeeding.

But hey, breastfeeding isn't going to make anybody rich, so why should we listen to the laboratories saying the same things my grandmother said for years??? *argh*

Brandie

 

[ducklite]

I ate peanuts and peanut products for 40+ years before one day breaking out in hives from them. I craved PB while I was pregnant, and my son was not born with and has never had peanut allergies. I've always been allergic to certain types of nuts, and those allergies have become more pronounced and have expanded to include pretty much all nuts.

I'm a neat/clean freak, but I don't over sanitize. The bathrooms are cleaned once a week or so, the kitchen counter wiped down daily with Clorox Wipes, but that's about it. I don't carry Purell sanitizer everywhere--if fact the only time I ever use it is when I'm at a concert with portolets and no handwashing facilities (yuck!).

I'm actually not sure that allergies are any more prevelent now than when we were kids, but I do think a lot of moms are a lot more paranoid. Their kid breaks out in a small rash once that might be attributed to eating peanut butter and suddenly their kid is hyper-allergic to peanuts and must never be around them.

As far as ADHD, it was definitely around 40 years ago--but those kids were just labeled troublemakers, put on a vo-tech path, and that was the end of it. Personally I think that ADD is probably the most misdiagnosed and over medicated thing going. I've seen a lot of kids dx as ADD who were simply the products of bad parenting and teachers who had no idea of how to keep kids interested in the course materials. I personally know at least three families who were treating their kids with Ritalin--those kids were normal, active kids who were about as ADD as the family dog--but the minute the teacher mentioned the kid was having trouble concentrating in class just before lunch time (duh--they were hungry!) the parent rushed them off to the doctor, who just like over prescribing antibiotics because that's what the paretns demanded, they prescribed Ritalin for ADD. It's pretty sad.

Anne

 

[Tosie]

Well, I don't know what anyone else thinks but I believe it is because people believe that now days you have to over-sanitize everything to death. I mean, you go to the grocery store or WalMart and there are several aisles devoted to nothing but sanitizing type products. I believe if you oversanitize everything, your children won't build up their immunities as well.

LOL - can't be said for our family.

I'm clean and I keep a clean house, but I'm not a germ phobe so things definitely slip through the cracks, so to speak, LOL!

My dd had the following allergies as a baby: milk, peanuts, tree nuts, pears, berries, eggs and beans. She's outgrown all but milk, peanuts and tree nuts.

I would love to know the cause!!!

 

[disykat]

Return to breastfeeding our kids. Diabetes, high cholesterol, food allergies, increase in breast cancer rates, etc, are proven to have links to whether the adults were fed formula or breastmilk as children. The increase in food allergies also follows the decrease in successful breastfeeding.

But hey, breastfeeding isn't going to make anybody rich, so why should we listen to the laboratories saying the same things my grandmother said for years??? *argh*

Brandie

I'm all for breastfeeding, but I actually wish I HADN'T breastfed my son. He spent his infancy SCREAMING because I was passing peanut proteins to him through my breastmilk. At the time, it wasn't thought that peanut proteins passed through breast milk and peanut products were recommended to me as something I SHOULD be eating.

I was breastfeeding to save my child from a lifetime of allergies, instead I gave him a lifetime of allergies.

Sure, there are babies exposed to peanut products that don't become allergic. I'm sure there are also children who weren't exposed as infants that develop allergies. However, ever since post WWII babies started becoming parents, growing numbers of babies are being exposed to peanuts in utero or as infants - and numbers of peanut allergies are rising. My hope is that numbers will go down as expectant mothers get educated about not eating peanut products while pregnant or nursing.

 

[suzannen]

Return to breastfeeding our kids. Diabetes, high cholesterol, food allergies, increase in breast cancer rates, etc, are proven to have links to whether the adults were fed formula or breastmilk as children. The increase in food allergies also follows the decrease in successful breastfeeding.

But hey, breastfeeding isn't going to make anybody rich, so why should we listen to the laboratories saying the same things my grandmother said for years??? *argh*

Brandie

Actually, as well as pregnant women consuming peanuts and peanut butter being looked into as one possible cause, there are also studies showing there may also be a link to breastfeeding since many nursing women eat peanut butter and are exposing infants to peanuts earlier than they would be normally. [One major study:
http://www.webmd.com/news/20010403/peanut-allergy-may-be-triggered-by-breastfeeding [/url] Some doctors have already begun to recommend nursing mothers watch their peanut intake.

Obviously, there is still a lot to be learned about this frightening allergy.

 

[Tosie]

Return to breastfeeding our kids. Diabetes, high cholesterol, food allergies, increase in breast cancer rates, etc, are proven to have links to whether the adults were fed formula or breastmilk as children. The increase in food allergies also follows the decrease in successful breastfeeding.

But hey, breastfeeding isn't going to make anybody rich, so why should we listen to the laboratories saying the same things my grandmother said for years??? *argh*

Brandie

I wish it was so easy - I breastfed dd for 2 years. Since she couldn't have milk, peanuts, tree nuts, pears, eggs, berries or beans, neither could I.

She's still allergic to milk, peanuts and tree nuts.

 

[Tiffer]

I always wonder the same thing. I never remember the asthma and allergies that kids have in the last 10 or so years. There were kids that had them, but it was like one or two kids.

I have always thought it is environmetal and also all the crap and hormones and pesticides they put in our food.

 

[disykat]

Some doctors have already begun to recommend nursing mothers watch their peanut intake.

And this is what frightens me. This recommendation has been in place for at least six years and so many people don't seem to know about it.

 

[jrmasm]

I think genetics play the biggest factor.

 

[Christine]

I don't think you are going to find one simple answer on the cause.

Personally, I don't think it's because we are "too clean". If that were the case, my son would not have an allergy. I'm a slob!

The ability to be allergic to something is a genetic predisposition. If you have any type of allergy, be it pollen, cats, etc. you are going to pass this predisposition on to your child. How that allergy manifests itself in your child will be unknown.

My DH has eczema which is a precursor of sorts to allergies. I have cat and pollen allergies. I was told by our allergist that if we had 4 children, one in four of those children "might" be allergy free but the rest would probably be allergic to something. As it stands, I have two children: oldest child is allergic to ragweed and most antibiotics, younger child is allergic to peanuts and shellfish, has asthma and eczema. He has never, however, exhibited an allergy to any medications.

One of the theories out there for the rise in peanut allergies is exposure. In all populations, there is an "offender." In Asian countries there are large amounts of soy and rice allergies--foods we here in the U.S. tend to think as more hypoallergenic. In the U.S. we have a high rate of peanut allergy because we consume a large amount of peanuts. Tons more than we ever did up through 1970. I hardly ever remember eating much peanut butter until I was probably 9 or 10 years old. Now it is in everything. The first exposure to peanuts is in the womb as the protein passes through the placenta. So, definitely more early exposure than was happening in the 1930s-1960s. In the 70s people went crazy using it and the allergy to it is now being reflected in society.

I suspect as soy becomes more a mainstay in the U.S. diet, we will see these allergies rise also.

What makes peanut allergy so much more noticeable is the severity of the reaction. Other than shellfish or beestings, other allergens don't nearly cause such a reaction.

 

[jmb72]

My cousin, who is now 21, has a severe, life threatening, peanut allergy. When my aunt was pregnant with him she craved Nutter Butter Cookies and ate them all the time. They told her that her eating those cookies did not cause the peanut allergy.

I have a hard time believing that nutter butters contain peanuts or peanut butter.