Peanut allergies have grown increasingly common in the last 20 years, why did they come to be such a problem in the US?
Peanut allergies have become a significant problem in the US in the last 20 years or so, but were never really seen in earlier generations. The reason behind this has recently been found.
It seems everywhere you go these days there is someone with a life-threatening peanut allergy. Along with that there are also those of the older generation regaling about how there were never such allergies when they were children. So, where did this stark rise in severe allergies come from and why are we only seeing them in the younger generations?
Marty Makary, a surgeon and medical writer, recently published a book titled “Blind Spots” touching on the source and rise of this common ailment. Surprisingly, he finds the rise came from bad advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in 2000.
Peanut allergies have tripled in the last 20 years
Research has proven that yes, it is true that our parents and grandparents likely did not know anybody with a peanut allergy, especially not a life threatening one. In 1999 the incidence of nut allergies in kids was only 0.6% and most of these were mild. However, parents were still concerned that they did not want their kids to develop the allergy and looked to the AAP for guidance.
The group decided to take a page from the UK health department and recommend parents completely avoid giving their child peanuts if they were at all at risk for developing an allergy. However, the definition for “at risk” was unclear and pediatricians started telling everyone to wait 3 years before introducing peanuts. In Makary’s research, he could not find any scientific evidence to back up this guideline.
Peanut allergies have been exploding in the U.S., unlike in many other places.
— Jonatan Pallesen (@jonatanpallesen) September 19, 2024
Why? Because doctors have been recommending childhood avoidance of peanuts.
Based on a 1996 study with no statistically significant results.
In fact, it is better to be exposed to peanuts early. pic.twitter.com/YW27T478R3
Peanut allergies continued to grow despite of, or because of, this new guideline. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that now about 1 million kids in the US have a peanut allergy. Schools ban peanuts, airlines ask passengers not to bring them on, and food packaging now lists if it is nut free. It is not just in the US, though, Europe has also noted a stark rise in allergies.
What if you don’t follow the guidelines?
Makary visited a doctor in Tennessee who did not urge patients to wait 3 years before introducing peanuts to their children. Instead, the doctor had parents give their kids watered down peanut butter as soon as they were able. The doctor had no patients who developed peanut allergies.
Over a decade ago, researchers started a trial to see if they could prevent peanut allergies
— Crémieux (@cremieuxrecueil) May 30, 2024
They gave a few hundred kids peanuts from ages one to five and told parents of another group to have their kids avoid the stuff
Peanut consumption reduced peanut allergy rates by a lot: pic.twitter.com/R40S8Ci5h4
A study published in 2015 backed up the suspicion that the AAP guideline was in fact, making allergies worse. Introducing peanuts early reduced the prevalence of allergies by 86%. Allergists attributed this to the body’s natural process of immune tolerance when exposed to something at a young age.
The guideline has since been reversed and made right. However, millions of kids had their lives changed by the instance of bad medical advice.
News reference:
Seem like peanut allergies were once rare and now everyone has them? The Harvard Gazette. Marty Makary. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2024/10/excerpt-from-blind-spots-by-marty-makary/