Nuts...why are they so bad

[NotAnotherScarf]

Nut allergy

Can someone please explain the fact that 54 years ago I started school and did 14 years without meeting anyone allergic to nuts...now everyone is and I can't enjoy a snickers without feeling guilty.

It is actually a serious question how we have got to the situation where so many people are in trouble if I open a packet of dry roasted.

@Fluffybuns88. This can’t be the reason because my dc were brought up in the USA where there was no “don’t eat nuts” in late pregnancy and kids are basically weaned onto peanut butter - still allergies are really prevalent. I personally think it’s down to the fact that we are so clean now, the very thing that prevents us from getting sick is making immune systems go into overdrive. My dc don’t have nut allergies but one is allergic to m&m’s (and similar) despite no dietary restrictions

@shazshaz I developed hayfever in my teens and the only summers I didn’t have it after that was when I was pregnant

Ah nuts that we are told are oh so healthy and good for us. Full of nutrients except that we can barely digest them and they’re full of anti nutrients.

Humans are not really designed to eat nuts in large quantities hence why we have so many problems with them from digestion to allergies.

Not so many are allergic. It's because one may be so they try and protect that one. Or there is a liektyhood

A pregnant young daughter, of a friend, has been advised to eat nuts through pregnancy, to reduce the risk of baby developing an allergy. 🤷‍♀️

Back in the 80s when I had my oldest child , we were warned about nuts 🥜.
Not to give them to little children .
I tried my children with peanut butter when they got a bit older ( + on a weekday and our GP surgery was open and nearby )

I'm 76 and remember people/children having nut and other allergies. It wasn't very well dealt with them, lots of kids ended up in hospital which could have been avoided and would be now.

What are urban forest planners? And what is this ‘predilection for male trees’? Most British tree species are monoecious so unless you live somewhere with millions of willows and poplars I can’t imagine this makes any difference.

My mom (77yo) recently had an allergy test done. Turns out she is allergic to all the stuff refused to eat cause "she was a picky eater".

My DB was born in the 80s and has a few allergies but nuts are one of the more serious ones. He was hospitalised after an incident in school where a class several periods before him had been burning peanuts as part of an experiment - the doctor said that the particles would still be in the air when he went into class. *He’s the person airlines ask you not to eat nuts in planes for - traces in the air could kill him.

When first dating his wife she didn’t know he was allergic and had eaten crunchy nut cornflakes for breakfast - they kissed hello later on that day and he had an immediate reaction requiring his EpiPen.

Often if people don’t know someone with an allergy they often don’t realise how serious it can be and that even very small traces on their skin etc can provoke a reaction.

Nut allergy is a reality, but aid agencies send peanut paste to drought stricken countries, as it's high calorie instant protein for kids who desperately need it.
How can this be a life saver to kids who are starving, and a threat to life to some kids in Europe ?

I'm not sure why allergies have become more serious, but my sister has a severe but allergy (in her 30s and allergic since birth). It's very serious and very scary. She has to carry round 2 epipens at all times and ask airlines to make announcements etc. She's had a couple of severe reactions just from touching surfaces where people have eaten nuts/made Nutella on toast. She's never eaten from a bakery or been to an Indian restaurant, for example. I'm really glad that people are becoming more allergy aware.

It's me!! I was at school in the 80s and 90s, then developed a nut allergy during my gap year (despite having eaten them as a child).

I've read it's more common in developed English-speaking countries like the UK, USA and Australia etc than other parts of the world. So I wonder if there is a genetic component or perhaps something cultural. I've also read that peanut allergies are rare in countries like Israel where peanuts are a common weaning food.

I grew up in the 60s and 70s and always we had nuts in the house at Christmas - hazelnuts, walnuts, brazils, almonds.

I have been wondering about this lately but have never seen anyone else say it. Do you have any links to further info about this? I only used to eat nuts occasionally and for various reasons have been eating more lately but they caused digestive issues so I am pulling back from them a bit now. I feel they are definitely not healthy for me at least. I have similar issues with seeds if I eat too many.

I’m 50. My best friend and my cousin both have serious nut allergies. They were diagnosed as children and are aged 50 and 52 respectively.

I was a child in the 80s, there were kids at my primary school who were allergic to eggs and dairy, as I remember they couldn’t always have the birthday cakes.

I have a pet allergy that became severe when I was a teenager. My parents had a cat and a dog when I was born so I was exposed from birth. No one else in my family has this allergy. I think it’s just one of those things we know more about now. I imagine a lot of people just put up with it, or didn’t say as they were embarrassed, and were miserable, which is a bit sad I think. I think in the past for some people saying you had an allergies was seen as ‘making a fuss’.

There was peanut oil in some popular brands of nipple cream and body lotion. I think babies may have been allergised through that.

What absolute nonsense. Human beings have eaten nuts since before we started walking upright. Anti nutrients my arse.

It's multifactorial. It seems likely that improved diagnosis is a factor (lots of allergy deaths were apparently misdiagnosed as asthma or choking in the past) but there is also a real increase in incidence of allergies of all types. It is unlikely that there is one causative factor. There are lots of theories about things that might be contributing though - dietary, environmental and epigenetic.
Interestingly peanut allergy is uncommon in Spain, but lentil allergy, which is unusual in the UK is far commoner there. Obviously they are closely related (I haven't read the thread so I assume people have already pointed out that peanuts are in fact legumes?) so interesting as to why there's such a difference in the two countries. Lentil isn't even on the standard skin prick test battery in the UK (or at least it wasn't when my DS was diagnosed). I had a battle to convince the doctors that it was likely and worth testing. (I had to provide my own lentils!) But my Spanish MIL shrugged and said "It's common isn't it?" One theory is that lentils are widely used as a weaning food in some parts of Spain leading to early sensitisation, or there may be genetic factors. But basically, nobody really knows.
The airborne allergy theory has been largely debunked now by the way. Reactions on planes are far more likely to be caused by contamination of seats, tray tables etc due to previous occupants eating nuts and if you look at advice from any of the allergy charities on flight safety it's very much focused on that. There is one, much overlooked, significant airborne allergy risk though and that's milk. Those coffee machines in cafes that froth milk are a serious risk to some milk allergy sufferers as they cause an aerosol of milk particles into the atmosphere. But people are far less aware of other allergies - so called "peanut privilege" is a real thing.
And nut (or anything else) free schools are a bad idea that experts in the field do not recommend.

Not originally.

Airbourne reactions are incredibly rare and ar worst cause a minor reaction. No one has ever died from it. I’m shocked up thread someone’s kid was hospitalised due to it, aybe the only person ever.

I was on an Aer Lingus flight recently, where passengers were asked not to consume nuts. No problem and hopefully, everyone complied. It must be stressful for anyone living with allergies.

A few months ago, I was on a flight where a passenger one seat away from me, ate nuts the whole flight. It was an endless bag!

I assume that’s down to choking risk?

Sadly I have never managed to convince DS that nuts are delicious. His only exposure to date has been pulling a face when peanut butter comes near him.