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You are right in that it is strange that it has only recently become a problem. I didn't know about it all until my son had his reaction. I don't know what you mean by misdiagnosis though. My son is definable allergic to peanuts and that allergy is life threatening. Fortunately through prudence on our part mainly he has only ever had one reaction. But we have had him tested every year and his allergy most certainly is to peanuts.

The only real link they have been able to find is to breast feeding. My wife used to snack on peanut butter crackers when breast feeding our son. Somehow the babies are not able to break down the protein when they are younger and that is what they think leads to the allergy - because the baby's body can't break it down the protein it treats it like a foreign pollutant. Over 85% of the kids with peanut allergies were breast fed.

The only real link they have been able to find is to breast feeding. My wife used to snack on peanut butter crackers when breast feeding our son. Somehow the babies are not able to break down the protein when they are younger and that is what they think leads to the allergy - because the baby's body can't break it down the protein it treats it like a foreign pollutant. Over 85% of the kids with peanut allergies were breast fed.

So if Mom stays away from peanut products while pregnant and breast-feeding, the allergy shouldn't develop? If that's kinda correct, I'm telling my sister. I refuse to have a tubful of nieces to whom I cannot feed PB&J sammiches.

Over 85% of the kids with peanut allergies were breast fed.

Now that is interesting.

Please note I don't doubt that most cases are a real, physical reaction. The more I think of this, the more I'm starting to wonder if there isn't some larger issue here, such as something happening in the last 10-15 years that changes the way peanuts react with the human body. As I said before, there must be some difference.

While keeping those appearing to be allergic to peanuts away from them will stop their reaction to them obviously, I'm concerned that we're missing some larger issue here since, as I explained previously, there's no biological way an allergy to peanuts can suddenly just occur without something changing.

It's my hope that investigation into this relatively new phenomenon is ongoing.