Allergies Article
Peanut Allergies Can Be Life Threatening
A member of the vegetable or legume family, the peanut is actually not considered a nut but rather, a legume, and are related to beans. An allergy to peanuts is a very common food allergy because the proteins that are in a peanut can act as an allergen, even when eaten in small amounts. Most people are not aware that a peanut allergy can be life threatening, so take any warnings seriously.
There seems to be an increase in peanut allergies.
FAAN concludes that incidence of peanut allergies in children are on the rise. This has prompted the need for improved standards of treatment and concern in public education. Studies reveal that the occurance of peanut allergies in children are on the rise and have doubled over the past five years.
There has been a number of studies done on this subject. A questionnaire, was used to seek the history of symptoms such as hay fever, asthma, rashes, as well as other questions that relate to food allergies, including peanuts, and any other reactions. The skin tests were done to discover if there is a response to peanuts.
To make a determination about the possible increases in prevalence, the test results were compared to earlier studies.
The result showed that about 40 children had responses to peanuts during the test. This was higher than a former study. Also, children who do have a peanut allergy show a high level of a genetic tendency to have a problem with allergies and asthma.
Experts are currently researching causes and treatment options.
Experts believe that the rise in peanut allergies may be due to:
* Women who ate peanuts while they were pregnant * Infants who were given peanuts when breast fed, which could contain peanut allergens * More families are vegetarian or and eat legumes and other vegetarian foods, which contain peanuts.
The study demonstrated that subjects experience severe reactions from peanut allergies. The level of severity varied and many people will never seek treatment. Those that did seek treatment were given a prescription for epinephrine, which is a drug that controls life-threatening allergic reactions.
According to FAAN, peanut allergies are responsible for well over 100 deaths and over 15,000 trips to emergency rooms across the country. Most of the deaths and hospital visits are related to peanut allergies.
People should be more aware of peanut allergies so they know if their child is possibly allergic to them. Peanut allergies can be severe and may cause death in some children. So make sure you have enough information on the subject so that you know when symptoms may arise and what to do.
