Peanut Allergies

Hi, Just curious about this whole peanut allergy thing. I was reading an article this morning (not pregnancy related) and it was about a doctor in the US who's saying that peanut allergies are being overblown - that because people are avoiding them completely it's leading to less tolerance of them. It also says that 20% of children with a peanut allergy will outgrow them. Just wondering how many people here are affected by peanut allergies - I don't know of anyone allergic to them even though I know a lot of people with different types of food allergies. (I'm not just craving peanut butter on toast and looking for a way to justify it, honest!)

no one in my immediate family has a peanut allergy but i know of a child who will have an anaphylactic reaction to nuts, fish and kiwifruit if they come into contact with them.

Hi Oddwire, I personally haven't stopped eating peanuts, my mam was addicted to them when she was pregnant on me and my two brothers and all three of us are fine, if anything we share her love for peanuts! I couldn't live without my peanut butter on toast or on a bagel!!! yummy!

[quote="MaltaMammy":2pl3crjr]Hi Oddwire, I personally haven't stopped eating peanuts, my mam was addicted to them when she was pregnant on me and my two brothers and all three of us are fine, if anything we share her love for peanuts! I couldn't live without my peanut butter on toast or on a bagel!!! yummy![/quote:2pl3crjr] Well, in that report in the independent, it only says you should stay away from nuts if allergies run in your family, otherwise it's fine! Noone in my family or DH's family are allergic, but as a teacher, I know 3 children who are & one quite severely allergic!

Yeah, it says the same in my pregnancy book, that you only need to stay off them if history of allergy in family. I have more or less stayed off them anyway, but have eaten things like snickers, satay sauce etc without thinking about it! I was really just curious to know how prevalent it actually is. The article was also distinguishing between ground-nut allergy (peanuts) and tree-nut allergies (almonds, hazlenuts etc), they are two different things. It was saying that because of all the scare-mongering it's leading to parents having children tested and finding minor, harmless versions of these allergies that are causing the statistic to rise. I know a full-blown peanut allergy is quite serious, but find it strange that I've never met anyone who has one when I know people allergic to seafood, eggs, carrots, lemons, mushrooms and loads of other really random stuff.