Increase in peanut allergies??

[Anonymous]

I developed an unknown food allergy in the US after living abroad for several years as an adult. I came back and immediately started having reactions to food. I was tested for everything and it all came back negative. The allergist said that there are lots of things added to food now that they have yet to create allergy tests for. It's possible to develop an allergy from the increasing use of additives, preservatives, etc. I now eat as clean as reasonably possible and my allergic reactions have steadily trended down. I don't think I used my epipen at all in 2022 and haven't yet in 2023. That could be from a combination of lowering my intake of whatever chemicals trigger my reaction and increasing my tolerance of them.

[Anonymous]

- 2 kids
- Clean diet during pregnancy, virtually all organic and included nuts
- Fed organic foods until age 5; diet still mostly organic
- Few processed foods
- No screens (at all) until after age 2
- Pets in the house since birth, which is supposed to be protective.
- SAHP who provided lots of outdoor time when they were little, including playing in nature and digging in the dirt.
- Minimal antibiotics or other medications
- Fed peanuts and nuts once it was recommended (age 3).

Both kids have food allergies. One ate nuts and peanuts until age 7, when she had sudden anaphylaxis and almost died. She now has severe anaphylactic allergies to peanuts and tree nuts, as well as suspected celiac (we went gluten free before doing the testing). The other has multiple, less severe food allergies.

Tell me, what did we do wrong? How is this the parents' fault?

[Anonymous]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0nEaSxpHR0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eod36TNGcUI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp6HZuovbwY

[Anonymous]

I guess anecdotes may not be helpful, but I'll add mine:
--I ate peanuts and tree nuts throughout both of my pregnancies
--DC1 was fed peanut butter along with a very varied diet from the time he started solids. He is 8 and has mild seasonal allergies, no food allergies
--DC2 was fed peanut butter along with a very varied diet from the time he started solids, although he wasn't as interested in food as DC1. We were shocked to learn that, at age 2, he was suddenly allergic to peanuts along with all tree nuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and eggs. Interestingly, as a baby, he always refused to let eggs even touch his lips. He also has asthma and eczema (though the eczema all but went away when we started giving him oat milk instead of cow's milk).

DH and and I don't have any food allergies.

[Anonymous]

Allergies are a dysfunction of the immune system. Related to other allergies, eczema, psoriasis, etc. Travels in families for sure. I doubt you can pin it down to one single thing in parental or prenatal behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that trying to blame the parents is hurtful and misguided.

Just stop. We can have a discussion on this without parents feeling like they're being blamed. I don't think parents can 100% avoid peanut allergies, but parents do have an impact on it.

Oh really? I have TWIN DAUGHTERS and one is allergic to peanuts, and one is not. Would you like to tell me what I did during pregnancy or what DH and I did during childhood to cause this? Hmm? They had eaten basically the same foods at every meal and snack for most of their lives up until the point of the allergy being apparent.

[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.

I lean toward the "too clean" way of thinking.

None of my relatives still in an Asian country have allergies.

I have 4 kids with various allergies like eggs, raw eggs, dairy, red dye #40, and most raw fruits.

We live cleaner in the US than they do. They don't live in filth, of course, but they don't wipe a baby's hands before they eat, they allow them to hang out on the floor without blankets down, etc.

[Anonymous]

One of my kids has peanut and tree nut allergies. I was shocked. I was born in an Asian country but have lived here since I was 5 months old. My husband grew up on a farm in rural MO and has 2 older brothers, so they weren't exactly the cleanest household. I don't have any allergies, food or environmental. My husband was allergic to peach skin and chicken feathers (inconvenient on a farm!) as a child, but is no longer allergic.

I suspect that my kid's allergies were caused by too many antibiotics for multiple double ear infections as an infant. I think they messed up his gut flora. When I was pregnant with him, I didn't avoid or overconsume peanut and tree nuts. Just ate them normally.

Trust me, my son didn't ask for these allergies and doesn't enjoy having them. He has never asked for accommodations at schools or parties or playgrounds. I would take this burden from him in a heartbeat if I could. We're now entering the teen years where the risk of incidents/reactions is high due to their foolish teenage brains and I pray to God that I won't get a call from the hospital.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

There is one theory that the western diet has led to increases gut permeability, meaning the intact proteins from our food pass into our bloodstream and therefore our breastmilk. So, kids are getting large exposures to various proteins via breastmilk that they didn’t get in previous generations. Their body is not ready to handle these exposures yet. It can cause GI issues, colic, or in some cases, this leads to immune overreaction and you get a full blown allergy when the kid tries the solid food later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:- 2 kids
- Clean diet during pregnancy, virtually all organic and included nuts
- Fed organic foods until age 5; diet still mostly organic
- Few processed foods
- No screens (at all) until after age 2
- Pets in the house since birth, which is supposed to be protective.
- SAHP who provided lots of outdoor time when they were little, including playing in nature and digging in the dirt.
- Minimal antibiotics or other medications
- Fed peanuts and nuts once it was recommended (age 3).

Both kids have food allergies. One ate nuts and peanuts until age 7, when she had sudden anaphylaxis and almost died. She now has severe anaphylactic allergies to peanuts and tree nuts, as well as suspected celiac (we went gluten free before doing the testing). The other has multiple, less severe food allergies.

Tell me, what did we do wrong? How is this the parents' fault?

You didn't do anything wrong, and it's not your fault.

The highlighted above used to be the recommendation to parents to avoid allergies, especially peanut allergies. It's not anymore. I posted about this upthread. Right around the time my DD was born, the medical community became aware of comparative studies on food allergies indicating that the prevailing wisdom at the time, which was to be very cautious about exposing young kids to known allergens, was probably wrong. And that especially for peanut and tree nut allergies, it is likely better for kids to be exposed young, and for even those kids who experience an allergic reaction to be treated with exposure to peanuts and tree nuts (starting in small controlled doses and building up) rather than in trying to create a peanut free cocoon.

But they just figured this out a few years ago! If your kids were born today, your doctor would likely encourage you to expose your kids to nuts between 6mo and a year. My pediatrician actually gave me a hard time when I told her I hadn't given my baby peanuts yet (because I was afraid, because of what I'd previously heard about allergies). And she was right.

It's not parents fault. We were given bad advice on the basis of an incorrect assumption made by the medical community. Go talk to a pediatrician about allergies now. They are seeing fewer peanut allergies in kids exposed to peanuts by age 1, and they are seeing success in reducing the severity of, or even eliminating, peanut allergies in young kids via exposure.

I think one reason you see higher rates of peanut allergies in UMC and wealthy American kids is that they have very good access to medical care and have parents who are likely to follow the advice of their pediatrician to the t. So when pediatricians said "don't expose your kids to nuts!" everyone followed suit, daycares and preschools banned nuts, and an entire generation of well-off American kids didn't get a chance for their immune system to acclimate to peanuts.

It's not about blaming parents, it's about correcting our assumptions. We made some bad assumptions. I'm sorry it impacted your kids. I definitely don't blame you for their allergies!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:- 2 kids
- Clean diet during pregnancy, virtually all organic and included nuts
- Fed organic foods until age 5; diet still mostly organic
- Few processed foods
- No screens (at all) until after age 2
- Pets in the house since birth, which is supposed to be protective.
- SAHP who provided lots of outdoor time when they were little, including playing in nature and digging in the dirt.
- Minimal antibiotics or other medications
- Fed peanuts and nuts once it was recommended (age 3).

Both kids have food allergies. One ate nuts and peanuts until age 7, when she had sudden anaphylaxis and almost died. She now has severe anaphylactic allergies to peanuts and tree nuts, as well as suspected celiac (we went gluten free before doing the testing). The other has multiple, less severe food allergies.

Tell me, what did we do wrong? How is this the parents' fault?

You didn't do anything wrong, and it's not your fault.

The highlighted above used to be the recommendation to parents to avoid allergies, especially peanut allergies. It's not anymore. I posted about this upthread. Right around the time my DD was born, the medical community became aware of comparative studies on food allergies indicating that the prevailing wisdom at the time, which was to be very cautious about exposing young kids to known allergens, was probably wrong. And that especially for peanut and tree nut allergies, it is likely better for kids to be exposed young, and for even those kids who experience an allergic reaction to be treated with exposure to peanuts and tree nuts (starting in small controlled doses and building up) rather than in trying to create a peanut free cocoon.

But they just figured this out a few years ago! If your kids were born today, your doctor would likely encourage you to expose your kids to nuts between 6mo and a year. My pediatrician actually gave me a hard time when I told her I hadn't given my baby peanuts yet (because I was afraid, because of what I'd previously heard about allergies). And she was right.

It's not parents fault. We were given bad advice on the basis of an incorrect assumption made by the medical community. Go talk to a pediatrician about allergies now. They are seeing fewer peanut allergies in kids exposed to peanuts by age 1, and they are seeing success in reducing the severity of, or even eliminating, peanut allergies in young kids via exposure.

I think one reason you see higher rates of peanut allergies in UMC and wealthy American kids is that they have very good access to medical care and have parents who are likely to follow the advice of their pediatrician to the t. So when pediatricians said "don't expose your kids to nuts!" everyone followed suit, daycares and preschools banned nuts, and an entire generation of well-off American kids didn't get a chance for their immune system to acclimate to peanuts.

It's not about blaming parents, it's about correcting our assumptions. We made some bad assumptions. I'm sorry it impacted your kids. I definitely don't blame you for their allergies!

New PP here. They are just guessing at this point. Since x didn't work, let's try to opposite. But early exposure is not proven to work either. I know countless allergy families where they tried this approach for the youngest kids. They still got allergies. I also know moms who meticulously made sure they ate absolutely everything regularly while pregnant and breastfeeding to reduce the risk of allergies. Some took probiotics, did everything right. Their kid still got allergies. My daughter was clearly reacting to allergens in my breastmilk as a newborn (itchiness and vomiting), so I didn't even stand a chance. Also you can't just reintroduce a food your child is allergic to. Unless you really want to kill them. You'll have to do it at the allergist office. That's what we did and they failed all their challenges. So what's the point again about early exposure? It doesn't work in practice. And pediatricians know virtually nothing about food allergies. Wait another 5 years and they will come up with another assumption.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

There is one theory that the western diet has led to increases gut permeability, meaning the intact proteins from our food pass into our bloodstream and therefore our breastmilk. So, kids are getting large exposures to various proteins via breastmilk that they didn’t get in previous generations. Their body is not ready to handle these exposures yet. It can cause GI issues, colic, or in some cases, this leads to immune overreaction and you get a full blown allergy when the kid tries the solid food later.

I'm actually convinced about that (leaky gut - allergies connection). I just find it hard to explain by diet alone. Lots of families with allergic kids eat a good diet with few processed foods. In that case you would think the economically disadvantaged families would have a much higher proportion of allergies but it's not the case. Or maybe it's the combination of what you said and breastfeeding? That could explain the prevalence of allergies in wealthier families (who are more likely to breastfeed).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:- 2 kids
- Clean diet during pregnancy, virtually all organic and included nuts
- Fed organic foods until age 5; diet still mostly organic
- Few processed foods
- No screens (at all) until after age 2
- Pets in the house since birth, which is supposed to be protective.
- SAHP who provided lots of outdoor time when they were little, including playing in nature and digging in the dirt.
- Minimal antibiotics or other medications
- Fed peanuts and nuts once it was recommended (age 3).

Both kids have food allergies. One ate nuts and peanuts until age 7, when she had sudden anaphylaxis and almost died. She now has severe anaphylactic allergies to peanuts and tree nuts, as well as suspected celiac (we went gluten free before doing the testing). The other has multiple, less severe food allergies.

Tell me, what did we do wrong? How is this the parents' fault?

And that especially for peanut and tree nut allergies, it is likely better for kids to be exposed young, and for even those kids who experience an allergic reaction to be treated with exposure to peanuts and tree nuts (starting in small controlled doses and building up) rather than in trying to create a peanut free cocoon.

I think it's really important to note that once anaphylactic allergies are identified the "starting in small controlled doses and building up" needs to happen in carefully supervised medical conditions, and that until the treatment, which takes more than a year in a best case scenario with a kid with 1 allergen and no complications, and no waiting list for the first appointment, the kids lives outside of those medical interventions need to continue to be peanut free.

On the other thread, there are a lot of people who seem to taking the fact that OIT exists (which is wonderful) and twisting it around to say that parents who try to protect their kids from exposure are either bad parents because they should have just done the treatment already (even though, the treatment can take years, so young kids can be getting the treatment and also still need to be protected) or that since small exposures are the cure they should let their kid have small exposures on the playground (not how it works). That's a really dangerous way of thinking.

[Anonymous]

We don’t know. If parents are to blame, we don’t know what they are doing to cause it. If it is environmental, we don’t know what it is exactly. We do know it is autoimmune.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

There is one theory that the western diet has led to increases gut permeability, meaning the intact proteins from our food pass into our bloodstream and therefore our breastmilk. So, kids are getting large exposures to various proteins via breastmilk that they didn’t get in previous generations. Their body is not ready to handle these exposures yet. It can cause GI issues, colic, or in some cases, this leads to immune overreaction and you get a full blown allergy when the kid tries the solid food later.

I'm actually convinced about that (leaky gut - allergies connection). I just find it hard to explain by diet alone. Lots of families with allergic kids eat a good diet with few processed foods. In that case you would think the economically disadvantaged families would have a much higher proportion of allergies but it's not the case. Or maybe it's the combination of what you said and breastfeeding? That could explain the prevalence of allergies in wealthier families (who are more likely to breastfeed).

I also can't imagine that if formula fed babies developed food allergies as a significantly lower rate, that wouldn't have been discovered by now.

I also think that if processed food were a simple mechanism causing this, that we'd see a pattern where lower income families in the same country, or at least in the US, would have higher rates, not lower rates.