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NetWellness provides the highest quality health information and education services created and evaluated by faculty of our partner universities.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
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NetWellness provides the highest quality health information and education services created and evaluated by faculty of our partner universities.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
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If it seems that there are there a lot more kids with peanut allergies than there used to be, unfortunately, it is not your imagination. A study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in late 2003 reported that the prevalence of peanut allergies in children doubled between 1997 and 2002, increasing from 0.4 percent to 0.8 percent of children. That means an estimated one in 125 children suffers from a peanut allergy.
The results can be deadly. According to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, peanut allergies are to blame for nearly 100 deaths and 15,000 emergency room visits each year, accounting for about half of the deaths and ER visits caused by all food allergies.
Tree nuts, such as almonds, cashews, pecans and walnuts, are also a concern. One survey found that 1.3 percent of adults -- about 1 in 77 -- are allergic to peanuts or tree nuts. Allergies to either peanuts or tree nuts cause about 80 percent of the 30,000 anaphylaxis cases seen in U.S. emergency rooms each year.
To help stem that tide, in 2004 Congress passed the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act, which required the top eight allergens in foods to be listed on labels by Jan. 1, 2006. The top eight allergens are milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat and soy. Manufacturers must use ingredients' common or usual names so consumers can easily determine if they are in the product. For example, if a product contains the milk-derived protein casein, the label must include "milk" so that people could easily see the food they're buying contains a milk product.
Scientists suspect that peanut allergies are on the rise because children younger than 3 years old are given peanut butter sandwiches or crackers as a quick meal or snack. At such a young age, their immune systems haven't had a chance to develop, and some children's systems react by rejecting the peanut protein. Families with a history of peanut allergies are advised to avoid giving children under age 3 any peanut-based food. Some doctors even advise women to avoid peanuts during pregnancy if peanut allergies run in the family.
The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network advises anyone with a peanut or tree nut allergy to carry epinephrine, medication that could control a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction. In 2003, the group found that only 46 percent of children and 23 percent of adults who were evaluated for food allergies were prescribed epinephrine.
This article originally appeared in Chow Line (1/8/2006), a service of Ohio State University Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, and was adapted for use on NetWellness with permission, 2005.
Last Reviewed: Dec 27, 2005
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Jaime Ackerman Foster, MPH, RD, LD Extension Nutrition Associate Department of Human Nutrition College of Education and Human Ecology The Ohio State University |
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