Posted on 11/29/2005 9:32:46 PM PST by neverdem
Newhouse News Service
Multiple-choice question: Why are more American kids allergic to foods, particularly peanuts?
A) Their immune systems are confused by increasingly clean homes.
B) Nervous parents wait too long to feed their children peanuts.
C) We roast peanuts rather than boil them.
D) Maybe one of the above, and/or something else.
Unfortunately, the answer is "D."
One study estimates American children's rate of allergy to peanuts and tree nuts (like walnuts and pecans) — about 1 percent of those under age 18 — has doubled in recent years. No one can say why.
But whatever biological mysteries are at work, U.S. children are more likely to be allergic to peanuts than kids in China, in Israel and in many underdeveloped nations, experts say.
"It's a moving target," said Dr. Robert Wood, a pediatric immunology professor at Johns Hopkins University. "The numbers may be different by the time the next study gets done."
Deaths from allergic reactions to food are not officially counted, but studies suggest 150-200 fatalities a year, experts say. Case studies of 32 food-allergy deaths during 1994-99 showed that most victims died of reactions to nuts, most had asthma, and 13 were under 18 years old.
Though rare, deaths from food allergies can occur with shocking caprice.
New law on allergies
On Jan. 1, a new federal law goes into effect requiring food manufacturers to use simple language — milk instead of "caseinates," egg instead of "albumin" — in food products' ingredients lists. The law will apply to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, fish, wheat, soybeans and crustaceans (such as shrimp and crabs). Proteins in these foods cause about 90 percent of allergic reactions. Studies of peanut, tree-nut, fish and shellfish allergies suggest 11.4 million Americans, or about 4 percent of the population, have food allergies, according to the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network. Ten years ago, scientists believed less than 1 percent of the population was affected.
In 2003, about 1,800 children under 18 were hospitalized due to food allergies, according to a federal estimate. That number had increased only slightly during the preceding decade, but researchers say many allergic episodes go uncounted when hospitals misclassify them.
"The data are not clear enough to say what the true rate of increase has been, but we would be very comfortable saying the rate of food allergy has truly increased," said Wood.
The only treatment for a severe allergic reaction is a shot of epinephrine, a hormone that relaxes the airways of someone struggling with a life-threatening allergic response.
On Jan. 1, a new federal law goes into effect requiring food manufacturers to use simple language — milk instead of "caseinates," egg instead of "albumin" — in food products' ingredients lists. The law will apply to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, fish, wheat, soybeans and crustaceans (such as shrimp and crabs). Proteins in these foods cause about 90 percent of allergic reactions.
Meanwhile, some advocates are pushing for federal guidelines for schools to create emergency action plans for allergic students.
In well-prepared schools, administrators have assembled teachers, parents, a school nurse and others to discuss how to handle emergencies and how to make a school safe, said Anne Munoz-Furlong, founder of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network, a group advocating more protections. "Nut-free" zones are becoming more common on school lunch tables.
Even highly sensitive peanut-allergic children are unlikely to experience a severe reaction from casual external contact with peanut butter, research has shown. Soap and water effectively remove the allergen from surfaces such as tabletops, while disposable wipes work well with hands.
But reactions do occur, most often when a child unknowingly eats something containing an allergen. Serious problems result when a school's files contain nothing from a child's doctor about a condition, what symptoms to look for and how and when to give medication.
"A child eats something, thinks it was safe, but they have a reaction," Munoz-Furlong said. "They're sent to the office, the office staff calls the parents. Or the child has asthma, and they give her an inhaler. The reaction gets completely out of control, and when you bring epinephrine into the picture, it's too late."
An allergic reaction occurs when the body mistakenly identifies something as an invader and activates a portion of the immune system. People with hay fever, for example, overreact to the inhalation of pollen. The same process occurs in food allergies, with protein acting as the trigger.
In someone allergic to peanuts, for example, the body senses a specific protein has attached to cells in the body. To "protect" the cells, it sends out special antibodies called immunoglobulin E, or IgE. When IgE reaches the cells, it causes them to release histamines and other chemicals that may cause itching, nausea or restricted breathing.
In trying to explain the increase in allergies, many scientists have embraced the "hygiene hypothesis." It holds that some people's immune systems have gone out of whack because America's increasing cleanliness has changed the behavior of IgE.
The central role of IgE is to help fight infections. But as America has become more sanitary, and as antibiotics have cut down on infections, IgE has less work to do, making it restless and prone to attack new things.
"The more [IgE] is left 'unbusy' because we're not being exposed to germs early in life, the more it could direct its attention toward allergies," said Wood.
Some data support this idea. Allergy rates are lower in many underdeveloped nations, perhaps because the immune systems of those who live there are constantly exercised.
But the hygiene hypothesis, which would apply to all kinds of allergies, doesn't explain everything.
"It's not clear that it's the whole story," said Dr. Marshall Plaut, chief of allergic mechanisms at the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Doctors have successfully "desensitized" patients with allergies like hay fever by injecting them with small but increasing doses of pollen. Such "immunotherapy" often causes severe reactions when tried against food allergies — an effect scientists are trying to understand and avert.
Mindful of the hygiene hypothesis, researchers also are studying whether exposing children earlier in life to peanuts and other potential allergens may properly prepare their immune systems.
Peanut allergy rates in Israel are low compared with the United States, and some suspect that's because many Israeli children eat peanut snacks earlier and more often than American children do.
"It could be the hygiene hypothesis," Munoz-Furlong said. "It could be the way peanuts are processed. In China they boil them, and we roast them. Or, it could be how they introduce it; in this country, we wait until the third birthday. In Israel, it's typically before the first birthday."
Perhaps the increased incidence in nut allergies is something nefarious like - evolution.
Occam's razor and all.
Nope, they are real and you are wrong.
Speaking of genetic: My husbands mother died of stomach cancer, all her sisters died of stomach cancer, their mother and her mother all died of stomach cancer (we found out about his GGrandmother when we found a copy of her obit.
My husband is very allergic to MSG. We have to ask in resturants before he orders soup if they make it and if they use MSG -- same with Chinese food, etc. You're right, so many food have it buried in the ingredients, we always read carefully. He also has Asthma and there has been some studies that show a link between Asthma and food ingredients like MSG.
Maybe this is just the emerging intellectually-reactionary curmudgeon in me, but I'm beginning to think we should trust anecdotal information a bit more than science, whose parameters for investigation often dictate the kinds of responses they will get.
Sudden feeling that I am painting a target on myself . . .
I have to agree with you about anecdotal evidence, after working in a teaching hospital for years, participating in research studies, and seeing ancedotal evidence first hand.
You'd better not eat any proteins then since virtually all of them contain glutamic acid. All vegetables contain glutamic acid in some form or another as well. Protein is a major source of glutamic acid so everybody metabolizes glutamic acid.
MSG is used to enhance the flavor and mouthfeel of food. If allergies were a problem with glutamic acid, you'd have a lot of sick people in this country. MSG is a small molecule and allergies are usually caused by large molecules such as proteins.
There have been cases where people consume so much MSG that it get through their brain blood barrier. When this happens, the brain cannot metabolize it and headaches and nausea can follow. This was, at one time, called Chinese Restaurant Syndrome. I am unaware of any case where someone became deathly ill or died from consuming MSG. Had this ever happened, there is a pretty good chance that MSG would be banned now.
Thanks for posting that you don't get the flu shots. I never have gotten one, because I've never had the flu.
Now that my immune system seems to be in some kind of rebellion (the recent onset of asthma in my 50s), I thought I probably should get flu shots. Then I thought twice about it and have decided against it again. I just know it would do me more harm than good, and no need to fix something that isn't broken.
OTOH, I did have whooping cough this year and it is rough. Six weeks of barking constantly, never stopping, totally involuntary. It happened when I cut back on my antihistamines for a couple of weeks, due to poverty. I later found out that our many-years-old DPT vaccines *do* wear out, as mine must have.
And then there's the shellfish thing! I've eaten any and all shellfish daily, weekly, all my life. I made some linguini with white clam sauce a few months ago and one whole side of my face swelled up--really badly. I told myself it was the canned clams and probably just that one batch--though I ended up throwing out all the rest of the sauce I made. Now I'm scared of canned clams. Have eaten many more types of other fresh or frozen shellfish since then, but still scared to try clams, at least canned ones.
My goodness, people have been eating soy since the beginning of time. You sure you've got the right bean? Soy is made up of about 50% oil, 35% protein and the rest is a combo of carbs and minerals. Once the oil is pressed out of the bean, the remainder (cake) is used mainly for animal feed. If humans eat the cake before it's processed, the carbs left over cannot be be metabolized in the gut and transfer to the large intestine. Here, when microorganisms get a hold of it, a lot of gas can be produced. This is a good reason not to feed your dog any food made with unprocessed soy.
Other than this there is absolutely nothing wrong with soy beans. Are you sure you're not thinking of castor beans?
My husband went through a siege of being sensitive to shell fish, we stayed away from it for over a year and then he ate it again and didn't have a problem with it. Go figure.
Even highly sensitive peanut-allergic children are unlikely to experience a severe reaction from casual external contact with peanut butter, research has shown. Soap and water effectively remove the allergen from surfaces such as tabletops, while disposable wipes work well with hands.
Food research produces some interesting theories. MSG may increase the palatability of food which, in turn, causes animals to eat more. However, MSG contains the same amount of calories as any other amino acid or protein. To think that MSG causes weight gain defies science.
Look at how many packaged foods have msg under it's many, varied names to disguise it.
And what are all the other names these nefarious food producers use to hide the fact that their products are loaded with MSG? If you believe this then you don't know much about the FDA and their rigid food labeling requirements.
..how many products use high-fructose corn syrup?
The new bogeyman of the food police is HFCS. Why is HFCS such a bad product?
Except it's not Big Sugar, but Big Corn (high fructose corn syrup).
Nonsense. Sucrose (sugar) is half glucose and half fructose. HFCS is made up of the same ingredients, it just contains more fructose and less glucose. If fructose is bad we'd all better quit eating fruit and honey.
Are you you've got the right bean?
It's the Asian Glycine soja that's been eaten for thousands of years
The cultivated African soybean, Glycine max was grown as forage crop for animals in 1903.
It wasn't until the early 1930's before the African variety was used for humans consumption in the form of soy flour and soy milk.
Also the Glycine max has 21% oil compared to less than 10% for the the wild grown soja variety.
Whenever I've have not gotten the flu shot, I get the flu badly. I have three young kids, and it's hard to take care of them when I'm sick. My husband can't take off time from work to help, so I am miserable. One year I got it, and then my son got it the next week. My daughters who did get the flu shot didn't get sick.
Today's generation searches for reasons to be victimized. That explains the concocting of the fictitious peanut allergy.
OK. Both.
I think we can rule soy out. If it were soy related we'd see higher instances in Asia than the USA, and we're seeing the opposite.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.