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Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

bbc.com

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Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#31

Post by timtyrrell »

darth_avocado wrote: post #3

I always think about the low incidence of peanut allergies in developing countries and wonder if the mother's diet during pregnancy has an effect on allergies in children? Has this been researched? Because instead of introducing peanuts and eggs to babies, introducing it to mothers is almost a no brainer.

I am the parent of twins. Their mother ate multitudes of peanut M&M's and similar items when pregnant. One twin has zero peanut allergies, the other one has deadly allergies and we are at the ER at least once a year from food contamination.

Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#32

Post by jnwatson »

makeitdouble wrote: post #28
Workaccount2 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It most likely has to do with how bored our immune systems are. We evolved to be constantly dirty, and we live in an extremely clean society. When your immune system has a lot to fight, it doesn't worry to much about dumb shit like pollen and peanuts.

How do you see reactivity to house dust, air pollution, stuff like asbestos and adjacent construction materials etc. ? Then I'd assume the living ecosystem also shifted from mostly open air to indoor insects, i.e. "life finds a way" We sure aren't exposed to the same things as 4 centuries ago, but I can't imagine we're living a what anyone would call a "clean" environment.

Dust allergies are extremely common these days but you can't have an (IgE mediated) allergy to asbestos or smog. Generally the immune system reacts to biological substances.

We're vastly more sterile from a germ perspective. The term "hygiene hypothesis" is apt.

Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#33

Post by marcod »

eskibars wrote: 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…

Sorry for being nosy, but did you do oral immunotherapy with or without professional support?

Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#34

Post by grecy »

When I worked at a wilderness summer camp I had a kid in my group that was deathly allergic to peanuts, so weeks before we had to rid the camp of them.

He was about 13, and said when he was little they did that scratch allergy test on his arm and he was in a coma for six months. He carried and Epipen around but told me not to stress. If someone ate a snickers then touched a door knob, and he touched it days later he would be dead on the ground before I had the cap off the pen anyway.

Cool kid, he just took it in stride.

Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#35

Post by grecy »

darth_avocado wrote: post #3

I always think about the low incidence of peanut allergies in developing countries and wonder if the mother's diet during pregnancy has an effect on allergies in children? Has this been researched? Because instead of introducing peanuts and eggs to babies, introducing it to mothers is almost a no brainer.

> low incidence of peanut allergies in developing countries

I know this sounds extremely insensitive, but I genuinely think the answer is simply that the vulnerable die.

I spent 3 years moving through 35 different African countries and 2 years through Latin America.

I honestly believe it is simply the harsh reality of life that many more infants and young children die than in developed countries.

Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#36

Post by viraptor »

AlbertCory wrote: post #17
Workaccount2 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It most likely has to do with how bored our immune systems are. We evolved to be constantly dirty, and we live in an extremely clean society. When your immune system has a lot to fight, it doesn't worry to much about dumb shit like pollen and peanuts.

About 20 years a doctor told me that this was a theory that wasn't widely accepted YET, but it deserved to be taken seriously. Now it's much more mainstream.

It's mainstream, but has it actually been confirmed in some way beyond "it makes sense"? I've never seen a paper trying to test it in some way. (Would love to know if it's out there)

Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#37

Post by [deleted] »

makeitdouble wrote: post #18
Vecr wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think Israel could cover something like that up?

I don't think parent is hinting at a conspiracy, and more at "natural" selection based on omnipresence of peanuts. With no knowledge about how i goes for babies, the question would be how a 2~3 month allergic kid [0] would react to peanuts, including when not directly ingested. If it had adverse effects it would go along the line of what parent is describing. [0] can kids that age already be allergic to peanuts ?

[deleted]

Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#38

Post by throwup238 »

type_enthusiast wrote: post #11
IncreasePosts wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No link because I'm on mobile, but I remember reading about how peanut allergy in Israel is nearly non-existent. This is notable because: 1) Israelis come from all over the world, and the incidence of peanut allergies are lower in, say, Sephardic Jews living in Israel compared to Sephardic Jews living in Spain. 2) a very popular snack there for kids(but also adults) are these peanut butter corn-puffs called "Bambas"(…

Strictly speaking, if all babies eat peanuts, you'll get to "nearly non-existent" peanut allergy one way or another. But you need better data than that to conclude that the change comes from allergy prevention, rather than... allergy "removal". Edit: I guess I was just trying to say "surprising data needs detail." I should have just said that, instead of making light of how dangerous allergies are. Downvotes deserved…

From Epidemiology of anaphylaxis in Europe [1]:

> Case fatality rates were noted in three studies at 0.000002%, 0.00009%, and 0.0001%.

Fatal allergic reactions are so rare as to be completely irrelevant as a cause of death. Most of them are drug induced and most of those occur in hospitals when someone has an allergic reaction to an intravenous drug, not something they eat [2]. They're unlikely to be a significant driver of any evolutionary adaptation.

[1] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/all.12272

[2] https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S00916749140119...

Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#39

Post by JumpCrisscross »

praseodym wrote: post #2

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?

Re: Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies

#40

Post by Andaith »

Here's the participating hospitals:

  * The Royal Children's Hospital in Victoria
  * Perth Children's Hospital 
  * Fiona Stanley Hospital in Western Australia
  * Queensland Children's Hospital
  * Women's and Children's Health Network in South Australia
  * Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick
  * The Children's Hospital at Westmead
  * John Hunter Children's Hospital 
  * Campbelltown Hospital 
  * Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in NSW
From this article, which has a bit more info: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-31/peanut-allergy-nation...
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