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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=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.[/quote]

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[/quote]

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.  [/quote]

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.[/quote]

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.

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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).[/quote]

[b]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.  [/b]

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.

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Formula feeding also directly introduces a foreign protein - cow milk protein - early in the gut development so it does not avoid the issue entirely. Plenty of babies fed formula develop milk allergy.

I think it’s a combination of causes but I do believe this is one.[/quote]

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