Why can’t kids take nuts??

[Kungfupanda67]

Genuine question, just had a booking form for a school trip and had the usual reminder to not put anything containing nuts in lunch boxes because some children are allergic to them. I was just wondering why this is such a blanket rule when some children are also allergic to eggs, cheese, wheat etc? Anyone know?

Because nut allergy can be so serious, and airborne

Because there are children going on the trip who are allergic to nuts, not eggs.

They probably don’t yet have any kids with a deathly allergy to dairy and eggs. DN school does and she isn’t allowed to bring nuts, eggs, or dairy products.

Nut allergy can be deadly because it is airborne cheese allergy usually happens when it is ingested

Because nut allergy can be so serious, and airborne
Many other allergies are as dangerous as nuts ie seeds,fish etc and nut dust is too heavy to be airbourne.
Ds is allergic to treenuts and seeds

And it is airbourne*

Are these nut allergies a recent thing? Are we molly coddling our kids so they develop allergies to basic foods that humans have eaten for thousands of years?

Well i stand corrected Bruffin i have always assumed it was airbourne

How could molly cuddling them make them allergic to something?

As others said because it’s likely that children on the trip/at school have anaphylactic reactions to nuts but not the others

No nut allergy has been about decades it is hardly caused by "mollycodling"

I've never really understood this, as something like peanut butter has as much chance of becoming airborne as eggs/ dairy. Due to the fact so many schools have a blanket ban on nuts (but rarely other allergens) a lot of people seem to believe nut allergies are the only ones which cause anaphylaxis, when in fact it's quite possible to have mild nut allergy or anaphalactic response to other allergens.

I would assume bruffin (rightly or wrongly) that a nut ban included tree nuts

Don';t know about airborne, but my DS has had a reaction from touching a keyboard someone had been using while eating peanuts. So definitely 'transferable'.

The UK has some of the highest prevalence rates of allergic conditions in the world, with over 20% of the population affected by one or more allergic disorder. (M. L. Levy, 2004)

I have an allergy that causes anaphalaxic reaction (not nuts) i can see why schools have blanket bans on them i know it seems an overreation but people die from these allergies.

Well clearly we are doing something that is causing a rapid increase.
In the 20 years to 2012 there was a 615% increase in the rate of hospital admissions for anaphylaxis in the UK (Turner, Paul J., et al, 2015)

cadbury I probably meant transferable when i said airbourne.

Plenty of theories easily googleable Sherlock

My son is allergic to treenuts and peanuts (not airborne). Believe me he isn’t mollycoddled.

Allergies are on the rise though, and late weaning is now being shown to be a big cause in atopic children. Son had severe eczema and was weaned late as advised by health visitors at the time. This means they take in allergens via the damaged skin barrier before they get a chance to take in via their gut.

Further down the line His specialist ( nhs consultant allergist) advised me that his siblings were weaned at 4 months and no food to be delayed. Neither has allergies.
I am just a little bit bitter especially when I still speak to health visitors etc who aren’t up to date on the latest read each and still advise weaning at 6 months and dealing things such as nuts till a year in children with eczema.

@Teddybear45 is that a primary or secondary school? I'm just wondering how they go on with the school meals? I can't imagine how hard that would be to maintain in a high school.

*delaying

If there is a child in the school with an egg allergy then eggs are banned (or they were in my school)

But as nut allergy seems to be more prevalent there always seems to be at least one sufferer so the ban is permanent.

It is likely that the school have a child who is allergy to nut trace, and is at risk of nuts being in their vicinity. I work with a woman who can walk into the office and know if nuts have been in the room - her throat and tongue starts to swell. We are a nut free office.
Both of my children have a nut allergy. DS to tree nuts but not peanuts and DD severly allergic to peanuts but not allergic to tree nuts.
Whilst my DD is not allergic to trace peanuts she is still an epipen carrier as internal exposure to nuts could be life threatening to her. All it could take on a school trip is a child to have peanut butter, and then share a drink with my daughter without thinking (she is 5, it happens) and this could be lethal.

@SherlockHolmesPipe - that is an old study. Newer ones have suggested that even though these countries don’t accurately report or understand allergies (especially food allergies) China and India (India especially) are the countries where allergies are most prevalent. It certainly helps to explain why the child mortality rates in India are so high even in parts of the population that aren’t living in poverty.