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Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

bbc.com

111–120 of 249 posts

Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#111
post #9

Our son is very allergic to peanuts and less so to cashew, and sesame. We went through oral immunotherapy and it's been absolutely life changing. He used to need an epi pen in case of chance encounter, but now he eats 2 whole peanut m&ms every day to keep his dosage up. It's been difficult finding an allergist in Germany that's willing to accept this and move forward Obviously everyone's mileage will vary, but I'm ha…

Is this effective and available for milder chronic hayfever and runny,partially blocked nose, generally speaking?

[deleted]

Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I AM NOT A DOCTOR OR OTHER HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL I looked into oral immunotherapy for tree nut allergies. There's a paper from 2022: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/all.15212 They did it in a few stages: 1. First three days: test the child with increasing amounts of cashew protein, until the child has a reaction. Use the amount ingested for that reaction, to determine the single highest tolerated dose (…

> day 1: start with 1/1800th of a small cashew, increasing up to a fifth of a small cashew do you mean, if there is no reaction to 1/1800th within minutes(?) then try 1/900th, lather rinse repeat?

Correct. The specifics are in the second page of this doc: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSupplement?do...

The intervals start at 10 minutes (start of day 1) and go to 90 minutes (start of day 3).

The dosage increments (in mg of cashew protein) start at 5x, but are mostly 1.5x or 2x.

Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I AM NOT A DOCTOR OR OTHER HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL I looked into oral immunotherapy for tree nut allergies. There's a paper from 2022: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/all.15212 They did it in a few stages: 1. First three days: test the child with increasing amounts of cashew protein, until the child has a reaction. Use the amount ingested for that reaction, to determine the single highest tolerated dose (…

For curiosity sake, curious if the tree nut allergy here was typical reactions (hives, nose, etc.)? I have a tree nut "allergy" but doctors always call it more of a "hypersensitivity" because my reactions are usually involving terrible stomach cramps and pain accompanied occasionally by swollen throat (more so for almonds than cashews). I've wondered if it's worth trying to do this myself.

Sounds like Oral Allergy Syndrome. I also have it with almonds and stone fruits.

Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, the banning of normal foods from these spaces is a detriment to everyone else. I feel it is a bit unfair, in that everyone else has to “subsidize” the few rare people with allergies. Shouldn’t the burden be on them to avoid public spaces if they’re that sensitive?

> Shouldn’t the burden be on them to avoid public spaces if they’re that sensitive? Depends how emphatic you are to your fellow human being. Peanuts aren't as important in most people's lives as actual people.

However since we're currently seeing that allergies are treated by exposure, by removing these from canteens we are strengthening everyone's allergies for the sake of the few. In essence these few unlucky ones, including those who don't want to take the risk, are making us all more ill in the long run.

Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#115

Nuts are a very good and healthy natural snack; it's a shame they are banned by most daycares and schools now. It would be great if this became so common they could be allowed again. Without nuts...what do we have instead? Chips. granola-bars. These are highly processed foods that have other issues. Raisins or apples maybe? but they are mostly sugar. None of these options have healthy fat & protein like nuts do. What…

Oh wow, are nuts banned from US schools? Never heard of that in NL or UK. The only food requests we get from daycare and primary school are to provide healthy snacks for birthday celebrations instead of sugary. And that's a friendly request not a rule.

Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the current guidance in the US as well. https://mana.md/peanut-allergies-may-affect-your-child/

and IIRC you need to maintain consistent exposure to the allergens throughout the first, idk, 18 months of life to have the best result. So don't just expose them once early on and stop.

Yes that's part of the advice in the Netherlands as well. Keep giving them things that can be common allergies.

My 4 year old's favourite food is shrimp and sushi... Not sure whether it's related to her eating those when she was a toddler, but it's fun to see the reactions in restaurants when you don't order the children's menu.

Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#118
post #9

Our son is very allergic to peanuts and less so to cashew, and sesame. We went through oral immunotherapy and it's been absolutely life changing. He used to need an epi pen in case of chance encounter, but now he eats 2 whole peanut m&ms every day to keep his dosage up. It's been difficult finding an allergist in Germany that's willing to accept this and move forward Obviously everyone's mileage will vary, but I'm ha…

Is this effective and available for milder chronic hayfever and runny,partially blocked nose, generally speaking?

Yes, my girlfriend gets allergy exposure shots for cat dander. It's stupid expensive and time consuming. You will meet your insurance deductible for several years. The outcome is only somewhat good as well.

Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, the banning of normal foods from these spaces is a detriment to everyone else. I feel it is a bit unfair, in that everyone else has to “subsidize” the few rare people with allergies. Shouldn’t the burden be on them to avoid public spaces if they’re that sensitive?

> Shouldn’t the burden be on them to avoid public spaces if they’re that sensitive? Depends how emphatic you are to your fellow human being. Peanuts aren't as important in most people's lives as actual people.

On the other hand, avoiding peanut exposure can cause an increase in allergies, so there's a feedback loop at play.

The children who now have allergies, but wouldn't with past exposure levels, are more inconvenienced than the kid who can't eat a peanut butter sandwich at school.

Attempting to make life better for all has unexpected twists and turns

Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#120

In The Netherlands it is recommended to introduce peanut and egg to babies between 4 and 6 months, to reduce the chances of food allergy. More information (in Dutch): https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/nl/service/vraag-en-antwoord/...

> introduce peanut and egg to babies between 4 and 6 months What goes wrong if they're exposed before that? If the mother eats peanuts and eggs while breast feeding, does that confer desensitisation?

It's the opposite. Usually babies don't eat any food at 4 months. They only get breastmilk or formula. The advice is to start early with peanutbutter and egg.

In our case diary products were an issue instead of nuts. My daughter would get very sick from anything that had diary in it, even if my wife ate diary products while breastfeeding. But at about 1.5 years one she got over that and now at 4 she is completely fine drinking normal cow milk.

So allergies in kids are not a permanent set in stone thing. They can get over some, and early exposure makes a difference.

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