How We Could Beat Childhood Peanut Allergies | SciShow News

More and more kids are avoiding peanut butter due to life threatening allergies, but we could make it so that no kid goes without a PBJ.

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[chris]

My daughter has done OIT (Oral Immunotherapy) to peanuts, eggs and milk. Going from anaphylaxis to being able to eat these items has changed her/ our lives. I cried when at age 6 she ate her first peanut butter and jelly sandwich, ate pizza with friends, and could eat real key lime pie (with egg). Those with allergies or allergy parents know how hard it is not only safety wise, but also socially to try and make it work with food. Good luck to all you out there working with these issues!

[cfh]

My daughter had anaphylaxis on her first try of peanut… 1yr and half later of immunotherapy and she eats 1 peanut a day no problem. In a few months we will be doing a blood test and doing the waiting period to see if she keeps her desensitization. Fingers crossed!

[DezzieYT]

I certainly appreciate the importance of helping children with food allergies, but as an adult who has developed a food allergy out of apparent nowhere to a food I'd eaten my whole life some research into adult-onset food allergies would be appreciated. It would also help those adults whose allergies developed in childhood and never grew out of it.

[PLuMUK]

I did not eat chillies until late adulthood, and I had an anaphylactic reaction. This was the time when chillies were beginning to be used in a wide variety of foods here in England, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. This was because a friend had specifically told the pizza company about my problem, yet, in the delivered pizza there was one tiny piece of chilli and, of course, I had it, and collapsed, with swollen lips, hives in my mouth, and rapidly closing airways..

I spoke to my GP, who was supportive of my plan, though, of course, cautious. Over the next 3-4 years I slowly increased my contact with chilli. First, just touching a piece would create a hive, but over the months this reaction reduced to zero.

I then began to touch a piece of chilli, and after touch my lip. More hives that slowly diminished in severity was the response, but no anaphylaxis. My airways were unaffected.

Eventually, I would touch my tongue. This caused some issues with breathing, but certainly not anaphylaxis.

This was all done with very mild chillies, but it definitely taught my body that chillies were not a danger to me. I can swallow a small piece of mild chilli, and touch stronger chillies without reaction. This makes me feel safer with how common chilli has become. However, I do not choose to eat chilli as, I suppose, I have bad memories related to them, and I remain vigilant.

My experience shows that the same processs will work in some adults.

[scout]

I was surprised to learn there was brand new research on the peanut thing, since Palforzia has been on the market for a couple years now (which is a specialty medication that uses the same exact idea). But it’s always important to do long-term studies and keep testing what we think we know!

[pvic]

as a LOVER of peanut butter, I would be so sad if I were allergic. Everyone deserves to have a love for peanuts. heres to science!

[TerenceClark]

I'm getting allergy shots, which is an immunotherapy very similar to what they're describing with the peanuts, though it's injected vs eaten. Prior to the shots my reactions were mostly respiratory and skin reactions. But I had my first anaphylaxis reaction last summer, and I can absolutely agree that it's nothing to mess around with. It felt like I was drowning for about a half an hour, even with the EpiPen, my inhaler, and an oxygen mask. -10/10, would strongly recommend against.

[heisenberg]

My peanut allergy (it causing an anaphylactic reaction of course) was one of the main things that prevented me from joining the military and pursuing my childhood dream of being a SEAL. That really was the only thing I ever wanted to do and I’m feeling lost in life not knowing what to do; it’s the only thing I ever wanted. I hope this issue can be solved so that others don’t feel the loss and lack of opportunity of not being able to pursue their dream career.

[ElicBehexan]

In the 1980s I had a severe and long lasting reaction to corn. After that reaction, I started reacting to just about every food, including peanuts. My allergist would have me avoid a food for a while and try it. I did that with peanuts. I continued to react to them. Finally I didn't eat peanuts for over a decade, this included not eating one of my favorite candies, peanut butter cups. When I tried them again, I tried some chocolate peanut butter. I waited. Finally I was able to eat peanuts again. I still prefer chocolate peanut butter to plain, and I'm firmly on the side of creamy peanut butter.

[lauralagarde]

I had an allergist do a similar treatment with me when I was a child, but unfortunately, my reaction to peanut is so severe, that the smell of peanut butter alone is enough to make me physically ill, and a trace amount will cause anaphylaxis. Its quite scary

[rubidot]

That was a real dubious connection to peanuts in the second half there, dear Hank.

[HanabiraKage]

I was actually allergic to peanuts and oranges and I was a kid, but it was apparently tied to my childhood asthma so I outgrew the allergies when I outgrew the asthma.

[AmanirenaII]

0:38 This is what my mother did with by little brother who had a severe peanut allergy. She started off by feeding him with a spoon that she stuck in a peanut butter jar and them thoroughly wiped clean and every 2-4 weeks she slowly increased the dosage. It took 2 and a half years and now he can eat nuts with no problem. He went from having severe asthma attacks and near heart failure if you just when near to him after you ate peanuts to eating entire jars of peanut butter in one sitting.

[cbpd]

I've been doing immunotherapy for a year (not for a food allergy, environmental allergies) and had a few brushes with anaphylaxis, though not all the way to anaphylactic shock.
It's scary, I hate it, wouldn't wish it on anyone. On the other hand, where I once had such terrible allergies that no amount of medication would get me through the summer, I don't even need it on non-injection days anymore.

[reywashere]

I and most of my siblings had minor reactions to peanut butter when my mom first fed us some. She kept on feeding it to us, and none of us have peanut allergies now. Yay desensitization!

[ximmer]

This might be a stretch, but I've noticed that people living in the US tend to have more allergies than anyone I know from other countries.

Stranger still is that my young cousins that moved there suddenly had peanut allergies. Is there anything different about the way children are exposed to nuts in the US?

[revilogaming]

My little cousin was part of a study like that in Ontario it started when he was really young and super allergic to peanuts after a few years he could eat some peanuts every night and made it safe for him to eat foods that said “may contain nuts “

[teambeining]

When my daughter was in 1st grade, she randomly started breaking out in hives. She had always had other potential allergy issues - colic, reflux, eczema, and chronic ear infections. The docs were always saying it was not necessarily allergies. The hives finally got her referred to an allergist.
She was allergic to: cow’s milk, egg white, peanuts, and wheat. We had to remove all of these from her diet completely - all of her favorite foods. Good luck finding any processed/easy foods that don’t contain one of those four.
After 6 months, we were allowed to slowly introduce these items, one at a time. It took two years, but she finally got back on “normal” foods.
She also had to have allergy shots for four years - the only reason she stopped her as because of COVID. She did well off the shots, so we didn’t have to restart them once the office opened back up.
It was a lot of effort, and a lot of coping on her part, but we are glad we did it. She does still have exercise-induced asthma, but all of her other symptoms are gone.
PS Is allergies a first child thing? I know multiple “first kids” who have multiple allergies, and sibs do not. My first child had regular doctors visits for all her various issues, as well as three ear surgeries, and temporary hearing loss (glasses and early braces, too). My second child has only had one ear infection in her life. She did have some eczema, but that completely went away when we reduced her milk exposure (since we had to remove it at home, but I couldn’t help sneaking her out for ice cream occasionally).

[hellyeah_ellajane]

As someone with an anaphylactic response to peanuts, giving my baby peanuts is extremely nerve wracking. Thanks for the info in this video!

[notfiction]

I love how archeology is like that. ‘I found a thing in the dirt, I’m gunna say it’s a spoon, just coz’