Peanut Allergies - Plano,TX

Peanut allergies have TRIPLED from 1997 to 2008.

Theories include:

* “Clean living” and more medication use leaves immune systems in a condition that is more prone to attack harmless proteins, such as those in foods, pollens, and animal dander.

• The roasting process. Potentially, roasting makes a more allergenic food out of it. Some people theorize that the oil in peanut butter might make it more allergenic. Roasting peanuts changes the sugar and makes the protein more stable to digestion and easier for the immune system to attack.

• Overly cautious parent-allergy relationship: some parents may believe kids have an allergy when that hasn't actually been confirmed. Only 8% of food allergies are actually confirmed.

• Timing of when the peanut is introduced into a child's diet

• Greater knowledge. A generation ago, labeling a child as having a “weak stomach” or “sensitive skin,” was common. We now can identify and address these symptoms as specific allergic responses.

Any way you look at it the peanut allergy is potentially deadly for many kids, and peanut allergies (true peanut allergies) tend to be lifelong.

Wonder what George Washington Carver would think?

Personally, I think when people started becoming paranoid about germs
we began to see more allergies in kids. Years ago, kids got dirty, no Purell,
and kids were much healthier because thery had good immune systems.
Kids need to get dirty it helps build their system. I know of someone who
went to school saying her child was allergic to milk. OK so no milk. Kid
comes home crying about not having milk. Mom calls school and they said
he is allergic, remember. Oh but he is not allergic to chocolate milk!!!!!!!
Sometimes I wonder if alot of these allergies are real or imagined at some
level. Don't get me wrong, I do believe that some children do have severe
peanut allergies. Somehow I think it has gotten out of hand. My friend teaches kindergarden and spends 45 minute out of a morning having kids
wash hands, wash down desks etc. because of a child who has an allergy.
There should be a middle ground somewhere.

Yeah, I have no idea. I would have once thought it might be from processing foods, but I eat healthier than most people I know (rarely ever eat out, make meals from scratch, avoid white flour and sugar, etc...), and my son has a peanut allergy. There is no history of it in our family. And, at the time, he was solely on breastmilk, excluding little nibbles of food here and there. My little sister had come over and given him a tiny taste (she didn't know he was too young). He was maybe 10 months old. He started welting up on his face and his breathing sounded raspy. It was terrifying. We got Benedryl into him quickly and off to the pediatricians (following their orders). He ended up being fine, but it really scared me bad. He has a fairly mild allergy compared to those deadly ones, but with allergies, they can get worse the more they are exposed to it. So, it doesn't mean he's safe.

So, maybe it has something to do with prcoessing foods? But I don't know how that would have applied to us. My mom fed me a lot of processed foods growing up, so maybe that has something to do with it. As it is, I only know of one other child (in real life - not on the internet) who has a peanut allergy. I wonder if it's like how someone else said, they used to just die and no one knew why. It's bizarre, though. I've often wondered how and why my son has this allergy!

I do not recall anyone with a peanut allergy when I was a kid. But I think kids are sort of clueless when it comes to noticing this kind of stuff.

The only person that I have ever known with a peanut allergy is my friends 3yr old. I dont think anyone I went to school with had any known allergies.
I think Denise & Patty had excellent points.

I'm roughly your same age, and I do remember a girl I went to Junior High with that had a peanut allergy. It was actually a horrible story as she bought a candy bar that had no nuts out of the school vending machine but because the packaging didn't label it as being "processed on the same equipment as other products containing nuts" she had a horrible reaction and nearly died. I remember her being gone for about 3 weeks from that incident and when she got back, I think she had more friends welcoming her back than she did before her horrible candy bar experience.

I didn't have a peanut allergy as a kid or young adult but I developed a peanut allergy at the age of 36. It got worse and worse to where I started having trouble breathing when I'd get a hold of peanuts. I had it cleared with acupuncture and it cleared 100%. I have no symptoms now when I eat peanuts! Weird huh?

I developed a tree nut allergy as a kid, I was around 8. We didn't have it diagnosed till I was in my 20s, I just didn't eat any nuts after the one incident. It was pretty easy for me, most people at that time didn't eat mixed nuts because they were expensive; just peanuts, and I'm not allergic to those.

I didn't know anyone else who had any nut allergies, and I agree with the rest that the recent upsurge is due to more educated doctors/parents and different environmental issues than we had when we were younger.

I find it extremely scary that so many kids are facing this life threatening allergy. I too wonder where it came from.

It seems like a flood of kids have developed this over the last few years. I do believe it will eventually come out that it was something environmental.

Sorry mom's. I know it's not intentional but I truly believe something is triggering this allergy. It is not normal for a sudden surge in peanut allergies.