Increase in peanut allergies??

[Anonymous]

You never hear about peanut allergies in Asia, Africa, South America, etc. It’s clearly linked to the way we live in the US and Western countries. Too clean, crappy food, too much time indoors.

[Anonymous]

Here is an interesting article

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/asian-environment-may-protect-children-against-nut-allergies-study/6ija39x7n

[Anonymous]

Around the time DD was born, there was a study out about peanut allergies in different countries, and one of the takeaways from it was that peanut allergies are very, very rare in Israel and they think it might have to do with the extreme popularity of bombas, a puffed snack covered in peanut powder. This was part of what drove the theory that peanut allergies were increasing because people were avoiding exposing their kids to peanuts, preventing them from developing healthy immune response to the allergen.

Now you are encouraged to expose your kid to small amounts of peanuts early (around the time solids are introduced) and kids who are found to have a peanut allergy are generally treated through progressive exposure. It doesn't always get rid of the allergy but it can reduce it's severity a lot, which is a big deal because, as you will learn in the other thread, having a kid who has a severe food allergy to any common food is incredibly stressful and limiting. Even if your kid never loses their peanut allergy, you could get to the point where exposure to small amounts, especially on your hands or just traces in food, would cause a mild reaction, not a deadly one requiring an epi pen.

In any case, we were nervous about introducing our baby to peanuts because we'd heard all these horror stories about allergies. Our pediatrician suggested bombas, which they now sell at Trader Joe's under their house brand, and now it's a favorite snack in our family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You never hear about peanut allergies in Asia, Africa, South America, etc. It’s clearly linked to the way we live in the US and Western countries. Too clean, crappy food, too much time indoors.

Something still doesn't add up. I lived abroad until the age of 30. No allergies in my family, friends, or anyone I know from back home. My husband grew up abroad too, in the developing world - no allergies. I move to the US and 5 years later my 1st child is born with food allergies. We never adopted the American diet. We cook at home and I buy healthy, mostly organic food. We don't use sanitizer and don't clean with harsh chemical or use fragrances. Kids played outside and were breastfed. So they got allergies just by virtue of geographical location? There's something else at play. Antibiotics play a role. Maybe other chemicals we are all exposed to in the environment or water supply. There's a link with gut health. But it goes beyond individual choices. We did all the right things, short of living on a farm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Around the time DD was born, there was a study out about peanut allergies in different countries, and one of the takeaways from it was that peanut allergies are very, very rare in Israel and they think it might have to do with the extreme popularity of bombas, a puffed snack covered in peanut powder. This was part of what drove the theory that peanut allergies were increasing because people were avoiding exposing their kids to peanuts, preventing them from developing healthy immune response to the allergen.

Now you are encouraged to expose your kid to small amounts of peanuts early (around the time solids are introduced) and kids who are found to have a peanut allergy are generally treated through progressive exposure. It doesn't always get rid of the allergy but it can reduce it's severity a lot, which is a big deal because, as you will learn in the other thread, having a kid who has a severe food allergy to any common food is incredibly stressful and limiting. Even if your kid never loses their peanut allergy, you could get to the point where exposure to small amounts, especially on your hands or just traces in food, would cause a mild reaction, not a deadly one requiring an epi pen.

In any case, we were nervous about introducing our baby to peanuts because we'd heard all these horror stories about allergies. Our pediatrician suggested bombas, which they now sell at Trader Joe's under their house brand, and now it's a favorite snack in our family.

But Americans eat so much peanut butter though. Babies get exposed to it from the mother in Utero and while breastfeeding. That should count no? We don't eat peanuts that much in Europe, at least not daily.
On another note, there was a study linking using frequent use of moisturizer on babies to food allergies. They used to say it's important to moisturize to create a barrier from allergen on the skin (which can cause allergies if the allergen is not already in the diet). But now some are saying that moisturizer a lot breaks down the natural skin barrier and introduces allergens from the parents hands... Confusing

[Anonymous]

My brother and I are full genetic siblings. My mom ate the same foods during both pregnancies, fed my brother and I the same foods, and brother and I were raised in the same house, but I haven’t had any food allergies yet (almost 50), while my brother developed severe allergies to all forms of poultry as a tween, and several kinds of seafood in his 20s (not just shellfish; he can’t eat salmon either). Brother has also always been allergic to pollen and pet dander (we never had a cat or dog). My only known allergy is to Penicillin. Mom had no known allergies until her 50s or 60s, but has had allergic reactions to numerous medications since then, and modal fabric. Dad was only allergic to pollen, but didn’t have severe reactions, just sneezed a lot.

I don’t think my parents did anything that caused these allergies, but my mom feels bad that she never attempted to breastfeed. My teens have no known allergies, but I wouldn’t pat myself on the back for doing anything right; we just got lucky.

[Anonymous]

Came about the same time as OMG ! MOLD!!. Never even heard the words “mold” or “peanut” associated with freaking out until after 2000. People’s genetics are regressing and getting weaker by the year. The population is less aesthetically attractive than it used to be as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Around the time DD was born, there was a study out about peanut allergies in different countries, and one of the takeaways from it was that peanut allergies are very, very rare in Israel and they think it might have to do with the extreme popularity of bombas, a puffed snack covered in peanut powder. This was part of what drove the theory that peanut allergies were increasing because people were avoiding exposing their kids to peanuts, preventing them from developing healthy immune response to the allergen.

Now you are encouraged to expose your kid to small amounts of peanuts early (around the time solids are introduced) and kids who are found to have a peanut allergy are generally treated through progressive exposure. It doesn't always get rid of the allergy but it can reduce it's severity a lot, which is a big deal because, as you will learn in the other thread, having a kid who has a severe food allergy to any common food is incredibly stressful and limiting. Even if your kid never loses their peanut allergy, you could get to the point where exposure to small amounts, especially on your hands or just traces in food, would cause a mild reaction, not a deadly one requiring an epi pen.

In any case, we were nervous about introducing our baby to peanuts because we'd heard all these horror stories about allergies. Our pediatrician suggested bombas, which they now sell at Trader Joe's under their house brand, and now it's a favorite snack in our family.

But Americans eat so much peanut butter though. Babies get exposed to it from the mother in Utero and while breastfeeding. That should count no? We don't eat peanuts that much in Europe, at least not daily.
On another note, there was a study linking using frequent use of moisturizer on babies to food allergies. They used to say it's important to moisturize to create a barrier from allergen on the skin (which can cause allergies if the allergen is not already in the diet). But now some are saying that moisturizer a lot breaks down the natural skin barrier and introduces allergens from the parents hands... Confusing

DP and no, it doesn’t count. I ate a ton of PB while pregnant and breastfeeding all three kids; one of them still has PN allergies.

This study came out shortly after that kid was diagnosed and his allergist full-on admitted that docs had been giving the wrong advice (to avoid peanut early in life). Interestingly, one of the leading theories is that if peanut is introduced via the skin before orally, the body learns to treat it as dangerous, i.e., peanut allergy. DS had horrible eczema when he was a baby, and it’s almost certain some small amount got in through his skin. I’d guess that those parents using a lot of moisturizer on their infants are doing so because they have eczema, as we did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You never hear about peanut allergies in Asia, Africa, South America, etc. It’s clearly linked to the way we live in the US and Western countries. Too clean, crappy food, too much time indoors.

Something still doesn't add up. I lived abroad until the age of 30. No allergies in my family, friends, or anyone I know from back home. My husband grew up abroad too, in the developing world - no allergies. I move to the US and 5 years later my 1st child is born with food allergies. We never adopted the American diet. We cook at home and I buy healthy, mostly organic food. We don't use sanitizer and don't clean with harsh chemical or use fragrances. Kids played outside and were breastfed. So they got allergies just by virtue of geographical location? There's something else at play. Antibiotics play a role. Maybe other chemicals we are all exposed to in the environment or water supply. There's a link with gut health. But it goes beyond individual choices. We did all the right things, short of living on a farm.

Food in the US and western countries is probably *too* clean. My wife is foreign. When we visit where she's from we will get street food, and I always, always, alllllllways end up paying the price big time and get horrendously sick while she has no problems at all. My wife has an immune system like a tank.

Even if you don't adopt the western diet while living here, you still have to buy ingredients from western stores. Nearly all of our proteins are steeped in antibiotics. Fruits and veggies at the store are often sterilized by irradiation or ethylene oxide. Meats too are often irradiated. Think about how much bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms it kills off on the surface of foods that out GI system would have to actually work to fight and kill off.

You know how the best wines are made? The plants are barely given water so they their roots have to dig deep to find water on their own..stressing grape plants creates an overall stronger plant that produces the best grapes because they are challenged with stresses. It's the same with the body whether it is weight lifting or the immune system. We create a bunch of weakling immune systems because we use radiation, antibiotics, and other chemicals to do all of the work out immune systems should be doing naturally that would lead to a build up of a stronger immune system and stronger person overall. It is a sedentary lifestyle at the molecular level for our immune system, this they get weak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Around the time DD was born, there was a study out about peanut allergies in different countries, and one of the takeaways from it was that peanut allergies are very, very rare in Israel and they think it might have to do with the extreme popularity of bombas, a puffed snack covered in peanut powder. This was part of what drove the theory that peanut allergies were increasing because people were avoiding exposing their kids to peanuts, preventing them from developing healthy immune response to the allergen.

Now you are encouraged to expose your kid to small amounts of peanuts early (around the time solids are introduced) and kids who are found to have a peanut allergy are generally treated through progressive exposure. It doesn't always get rid of the allergy but it can reduce it's severity a lot, which is a big deal because, as you will learn in the other thread, having a kid who has a severe food allergy to any common food is incredibly stressful and limiting. Even if your kid never loses their peanut allergy, you could get to the point where exposure to small amounts, especially on your hands or just traces in food, would cause a mild reaction, not a deadly one requiring an epi pen.

In any case, we were nervous about introducing our baby to peanuts because we'd heard all these horror stories about allergies. Our pediatrician suggested bombas, which they now sell at Trader Joe's under their house brand, and now it's a favorite snack in our family.

But Americans eat so much peanut butter though. Babies get exposed to it from the mother in Utero and while breastfeeding. That should count no? We don't eat peanuts that much in Europe, at least not daily.
On another note, there was a study linking using frequent use of moisturizer on babies to food allergies. They used to say it's important to moisturize to create a barrier from allergen on the skin (which can cause allergies if the allergen is not already in the diet). But now some are saying that moisturizer a lot breaks down the natural skin barrier and introduces allergens from the parents hands... Confusing

i think a simple explanation for the moisturizer study is
1. parents of kids with eczema are advised to moisturize
1b. having eczema is linked to food allergies
2. Eczema weakens the skin so allergens can be more easily absorbed (?)
2b. and moisturizer prolongs allergen contact.

Addendum: To mention nothing of the fact that so many moisturizers with their perfumes and additives are actually super full of common allergens.

Plain petroleum jelly is the way to go, if you need to moisturize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Around the time DD was born, there was a study out about peanut allergies in different countries, and one of the takeaways from it was that peanut allergies are very, very rare in Israel and they think it might have to do with the extreme popularity of bombas, a puffed snack covered in peanut powder. This was part of what drove the theory that peanut allergies were increasing because people were avoiding exposing their kids to peanuts, preventing them from developing healthy immune response to the allergen.

Now you are encouraged to expose your kid to small amounts of peanuts early (around the time solids are introduced) and kids who are found to have a peanut allergy are generally treated through progressive exposure. It doesn't always get rid of the allergy but it can reduce it's severity a lot, which is a big deal because, as you will learn in the other thread, having a kid who has a severe food allergy to any common food is incredibly stressful and limiting. Even if your kid never loses their peanut allergy, you could get to the point where exposure to small amounts, especially on your hands or just traces in food, would cause a mild reaction, not a deadly one requiring an epi pen.

In any case, we were nervous about introducing our baby to peanuts because we'd heard all these horror stories about allergies. Our pediatrician suggested bombas, which they now sell at Trader Joe's under their house brand, and now it's a favorite snack in our family.

But Americans eat so much peanut butter though. Babies get exposed to it from the mother in Utero and while breastfeeding. That should count no? We don't eat peanuts that much in Europe, at least not daily.
On another note, there was a study linking using frequent use of moisturizer on babies to food allergies. They used to say it's important to moisturize to create a barrier from allergen on the skin (which can cause allergies if the allergen is not already in the diet). But now some are saying that moisturizer a lot breaks down the natural skin barrier and introduces allergens from the parents hands... Confusing

DP and no, it doesn’t count. I ate a ton of PB while pregnant and breastfeeding all three kids; one of them still has PN allergies.

This study came out shortly after that kid was diagnosed and his allergist full-on admitted that docs had been giving the wrong advice (to avoid peanut early in life). Interestingly, one of the leading theories is that if peanut is introduced via the skin before orally, the body learns to treat it as dangerous, i.e., peanut allergy. DS had horrible eczema when he was a baby, and it’s almost certain some small amount got in through his skin. I’d guess that those parents using a lot of moisturizer on their infants are doing so because they have eczema, as we did.

That was my immediate reaction too but the study was carried out on 2 cohort, one with eczema and one without and the results were the same.
Wouldn't breast feeding count as oral exposure though? I breastfed my kids but one of them was already clearly allergic to stuff I was eating. That right after she was borne. So I didn't have a chance to give her any food yet. In that case oral introduction preceded skin contact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You never hear about peanut allergies in Asia, Africa, South America, etc. It’s clearly linked to the way we live in the US and Western countries. Too clean, crappy food, too much time indoors.

Something still doesn't add up. I lived abroad until the age of 30. No allergies in my family, friends, or anyone I know from back home. My husband grew up abroad too, in the developing world - no allergies. I move to the US and 5 years later my 1st child is born with food allergies. We never adopted the American diet. We cook at home and I buy healthy, mostly organic food. We don't use sanitizer and don't clean with harsh chemical or use fragrances. Kids played outside and were breastfed. So they got allergies just by virtue of geographical location? There's something else at play. Antibiotics play a role. Maybe other chemicals we are all exposed to in the environment or water supply. There's a link with gut health. But it goes beyond individual choices. We did all the right things, short of living on a farm.

Food in the US and western countries is probably *too* clean. My wife is foreign. When we visit where she's from we will get street food, and I always, always, alllllllways end up paying the price big time and get horrendously sick while she has no problems at all. My wife has an immune system like a tank.

Even if you don't adopt the western diet while living here, you still have to buy ingredients from western stores. Nearly all of our proteins are steeped in antibiotics. Fruits and veggies at the store are often sterilized by irradiation or ethylene oxide. Meats too are often irradiated. Think about how much bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms it kills off on the surface of foods that out GI system would have to actually work to fight and kill off.

You know how the best wines are made? The plants are barely given water so they their roots have to dig deep to find water on their own..stressing grape plants creates an overall stronger plant that produces the best grapes because they are challenged with stresses. It's the same with the body whether it is weight lifting or the immune system. We create a bunch of weakling immune systems because we use radiation, antibiotics, and other chemicals to do all of the work out immune systems should be doing naturally that would lead to a build up of a stronger immune system and stronger person overall. It is a sedentary lifestyle at the molecular level for our immune system, this they get weak.

What you just said reminded me of what our allergist said when I said that no one in our families has allergies and we grew up abroad. He said that coming from the "developing" world means that your immune system is ready to fight. You pass this on to your kids but their immune systems don't find any parasites to fight. So they start attacking food proteins. Ok why not.... But then there should be higher rates of food allergies in 1 gen Americans, which I have not heard being the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Around the time DD was born, there was a study out about peanut allergies in different countries, and one of the takeaways from it was that peanut allergies are very, very rare in Israel and they think it might have to do with the extreme popularity of bombas, a puffed snack covered in peanut powder. This was part of what drove the theory that peanut allergies were increasing because people were avoiding exposing their kids to peanuts, preventing them from developing healthy immune response to the allergen.

Now you are encouraged to expose your kid to small amounts of peanuts early (around the time solids are introduced) and kids who are found to have a peanut allergy are generally treated through progressive exposure. It doesn't always get rid of the allergy but it can reduce it's severity a lot, which is a big deal because, as you will learn in the other thread, having a kid who has a severe food allergy to any common food is incredibly stressful and limiting. Even if your kid never loses their peanut allergy, you could get to the point where exposure to small amounts, especially on your hands or just traces in food, would cause a mild reaction, not a deadly one requiring an epi pen.

In any case, we were nervous about introducing our baby to peanuts because we'd heard all these horror stories about allergies. Our pediatrician suggested bombas, which they now sell at Trader Joe's under their house brand, and now it's a favorite snack in our family.

But Americans eat so much peanut butter though. Babies get exposed to it from the mother in Utero and while breastfeeding. That should count no? We don't eat peanuts that much in Europe, at least not daily.
On another note, there was a study linking using frequent use of moisturizer on babies to food allergies. They used to say it's important to moisturize to create a barrier from allergen on the skin (which can cause allergies if the allergen is not already in the diet). But now some are saying that moisturizer a lot breaks down the natural skin barrier and introduces allergens from the parents hands... Confusing

i think a simple explanation for the moisturizer study is
1. parents of kids with eczema are advised to moisturize
1b. having eczema is linked to food allergies
2. Eczema weakens the skin so allergens can be more easily absorbed (?)
2b. and moisturizer prolongs allergen contact.

Addendum: To mention nothing of the fact that so many moisturizers with their perfumes and additives are actually super full of common allergens.

Plain petroleum jelly is the way to go, if you need to moisturize.

I agree with what you just said. However reading the study left me perplexed. Here it is:

https://sciworthy.com/frequently-moisturized-infants-are-more-likely-to-develop-food-allergies-later-in-life/

[Anonymous]

I am just thinking out loud right now about things that are done differently in the US vs. elsewhere.
- we use more OTC medicine (antiacids, tylenol, ibuprofen)
- foods are enriched here (with synthetic vitamins). Often not the case abroad except for flours
- more time spent indoors and on screens
- more stress
- prenatal vitamins (women elsewhere seem to mostly just take folic acid, if anything)
- increased use of antibiotics, antidepressants, detergents and other stuff that ends up in the food and water supply

[Anonymous]

All the research points to an increase, to epidemic proportions, only among the wealthy, particularly in the US. Are the immune systems of children in Asia or Africa somehow better? Are wealthy parents in the United States doing something different than parents around the rest of the world? The idea that trace residue from days ago can kill a child is scary, but how would these children have survived a generation ago? Or even today, if they were born in Laos?