By Jena Levy
Peanut butter and jelly is no longer the token sandwiche in children’s lunch boxes. Instead, there are signs posted throughout cafeterias advising students and teachers to wash their hands after lunch because of children severely allergic to peanuts and separate tables for children with peanut allergies. But where was this widespread and potentially fatal allergy when we were growing up, and why is it so prevalent today?
A study from the Isle of Wight, and documented in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, showed that the number of children with peanut allergies has doubled in the five years from 1997 to 2002. Technically, there is no definitive answer as to why. Instead, there are multiple hypotheses and explanations.
Many food proteins are similar to our body’s proteins, so our bodies can easily absorb them. A food allergy develops when the proteins in a certain food, usually nuts, shellfish, wheat or dairy, are not recognized by our bodies. These proteins are taken in by our immune system, which starts the immune reaction. This results in the allergy symptoms or an attack.
The first explanation is that parents introduce peanuts to children too early. Children are being given peanuts when their immune systems are too weak to absorb them. Human immune systems are still developing until the age of three. Therefore, if we consume a food that we are not familiar with, like peanuts, our body has no resistance against its proteins. Our immune system will release the antibody called IgE, which releases chemicals that create the allergy symptoms
Another hypothesis is that our society has become too clean and germ-free. This is known as the “hygiene hypothesis.” It explains that we are so overly protected from germs and natural allergens that our body will react negatively to substances that we are not familiar with, but are actually harmless.
Retired university professor of nutrition and dietetics Charlene Hamilton said “children do not have the usual exposure to germs that children in past generations did, so they won’t develop their own antibodies to organisms that they come into contact with.”
A third possible explanation is that roasting or heating peanuts changes the protein structure that the body is used to, making our bodies more prone to an allergic reaction.
Common symptoms of peanut allergies are similar to other allergies. They can occur immediately or over a certain amount of time. Symptoms include hives, runny nose, wheezing and difficulty breathing. Shock is also a possible reaction. This is where the “blood pressure drops and the blood struggles to pump blood around the body.”
There is no cure for food allergies. It is possible, but not very likely, for our bodies to outgrow them. The only way to avoid and prevent allergic reactions is to avoid eating the food and to avoid coming into close contact with the food or people who have come in contact with the food.
A drug called TNX-901 has proven to prevent reactions from peanuts by fighting the peanut-sensitive antibodies in our immune systems. It is still in trial runs, but because of its success, it is expected to be on the market in a few years.
