Letter of Recommendation: Bamba | Hacker News Reader

Letter of Recommendation: Bamba

nytimes.com

67 pointszabramow40 comments

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Evolution of parents:

1. first kid - sterilize baby bottle nipples

2. second kid - run nipples through the dishwasher

3. third kid - rinse nipples under the faucet

4. fourth kid - hold out nipples for dog to lick clean

First kid - "be careful he doesn't trip and fall"

Second kid - "Oh, he tripped and fell. are you ok?"

Third kid - (BAM CRASH Cry from upstairs) - "oh, he's fine. crying means he's fine."

"Crying means he's alive. I only worry when there's silence."

Fourth kid - scream "I hope your head did not damage the floor!!"

(quickest way to make a child stop screaming BTW)

Yes, I even know people around here that would let dogs lick wounds, -said it healed them. And this is at the top of the world. For some reason I never wanted to try that (I use Iodine in water or alcohold : )

I couldn't bring myself to go as far as letting a dog lick a wound, but these days the Mayo Clinic is advising against using disinfectants like iodine or alcohol; just make sure it's clean and apply a sterile bandage. Rationale: disinfectants do kill bacteria, but applied to an open wound they also kill white blood cells; apparently it's a net negative.

There is an excellent standup comedy routine on being the youngest child and surviving until teens. I'll link to it when I could recollect who did it.

Yup, makes total sense. Let your kids eat a bug or two, play in the dirt, sneeze on each other. Unless you are statistically unlucky, they'll be fine, and they'll build up stronger immune systems, so they won't be as fragile later on. Unless your child is Bubble Boy, there's no need for OCD antiseptic cleanliness.

One comment on the article cites a recommendation that young children not consume honey because it might possibly cause 90 cases of botulism a year. 90 cases out of several million is not really a significant thing to worry about. Sucks if it happens, but it is really unlikely.

Just to set the record straight, part of the reason we have so few cases of infant botulism each year is that pediatricians actively recommend against feeding honey to kids under 1 year old. There aren't really any immunological benefits to early honey, so it really is an unnecessary risk. Please don't recommend people disregard medical advice that is there for good reasons.

http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/botu...

There's zero reason to give young children added sugar. The lack of benefit of honey combined with the small risk of botulism and the severe risk of dental problems means it's probably a good idea to avoid honey.

When I was doing research for a daycare center in the 90's, we found a lot of studies that said putting in those deluxe clean air systems actually caused more problems (e.g. asthma). Came as quite a shock given the other cleaning procedures were a good thing (When a truck drops off your Lysol, you are using a lot).

I am Israeli, lived in America for 1/2 my childhood. My nephew grew up entirely in Israel, and has peanut allergies. Ironically in the context of this article, we didn't find this out until he first had bamba and my sister had to rush him to the hospital. There have been a number of his classmates with the same allergy. Only going by his classmates from nursery school until 8th grade now, the stats don't look so great.

Obviously this is anecdotal, but like all things, nothing is 100%. I am not sure what sample size or data was used in these studies, but in just my circle the number of people with peanut allergies that are Israeli is decently large compared to many other people I know. Unfortunately peanut allergies can be pretty annoying, serious, and hard to deal with, so it ends up a big topic of discussion a few times a year in our social circles.

For those that have never had bamba, it truly is a peanut butter cheese doodle that will melt in your mouth. That allows Israeli kids to eat them at a really young age.

Allergies are mostly a North American and European thing aren't they? I had never heard of allergies until I came to the US from my slice of third world hell.

I wouldn't call the place I came from is a third world , but same here. I have never heard of "peanut allergies" until I came to US.

I still wonder if we don't over process some foods to where the end result is not quite the food it should be thereby increasing sensitivity. Top that with parents who think they know more than they actually do. I always laughed at friends who could not come over to my house because I had dogs because their kids or even unborn baby might get something.

I'm 25 and grew up in rural England, played in the mud, grew up around animals and my parents cooked from fresh every day; yet I have a severe nut allergy and suffered in the past from asthma and hay fever. I'm the only one in both my immediate and extended family to have ever suffer from any of the above.

I don't think processed food was the cause of my problems, just random genetic flaws.

Chris Rock has a (in)famous bit on this.

There is a hypothesis[1] that it's a developed, hygienic world thing.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis

That's not necessarily true. Kids might be dying of food allergies frequently in poorer countries but it's simply not reported or the local hospitals (assuming they're taken to a hospital) might be unable to diagnose the cause of death.

That's what I wonder every now and then, too. Like a couple of comments noted here, I have never heard of peanut allergies in my country (Myanmar) until I came to the US. Myanmar people eat a lot of peanut-based snacks (including the famous national salad called "Lahpet", which has peanut. It could entirely be due to genetics (i.e. south east asians are genetically immune to peanut allergies?), but I really would like to know the answer one day.

I have a young child at home. He eats bamba, peanut butter, and a worrying amount of New York City dirt.

That said, this is such a dangerous article, and I'm honestly surprised the NYT published it. It's written by a non-scientist making a "common sense" claim, and it even closes with a paragraph-long variation on the "how much can we really trust science anyways?" claim.

My understanding is that there has been a single study, done among a largely homogenous population, that has indicated Bamba's benefit. Maybe Bamba does help inoculate against peanut allergies -- I think it's plausible, even likely. But it's certainly not anything approaching scientific consensus, the author is not a scientist of any variety, and I think this article has a real danger to mislead.

I don't think its particularly dangerous. While its less detailed and formal, its not particularly out of line from common medical guidance on the issue. [0] Certainly, major publications -- including the Times -- frequently print pop-health advice that is more at odds with medical science than this piece.

[0] E.g., this, from the American Academy of Pediatrics, https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/condit...

Surprised no one posted this: https://xkcd.com/531/

What about Vietnamese kids -- who have lots of peanuts in their main diets.

What about US kids that eat a lots of PB&J?

If kids are already eating lots of nuts it's likely they're not going to be allergic to that type of nut/legume (however they can be allergic to other nuts in the same tree nut family).

Is this the future of advertising, a whole 'article' dedicated to a peanut butter coated roasted corn snack, Apple, Amazon, the Jackson Five, talk about product placement. I would have really liked to read an article on the causes of childhood allergies ...

I don't know anyone in Poland that have peanut allergies. Peanuts are only used for a few cakes (walnut).

Hmm, so walnuts are used, but not peanuts. From friends here with allergies, they're specifically allergic to peanuts and not nuts in general (though they avoid most because they're often processed in the same facilities). Depending on the severity of their allergy that avoidance will be greater or lesser, a couple will eat brownies or cookies made with walnuts, or a pecan pie, but won't eat from a can of mixed nuts even if it doesn't (by the label) contain peanuts.

Peanuts are legumes, and walnuts are tree nuts. People can be allergic to just legumes, or just tree nuts or both.

Within the tree nut family, some people can be allergic to just certain types such as cashew nuts because the proteins they're allergic differ to other tree nuts.

My first sentence was meant to be a question. OP seemed to be using peanuts as a generic term for nuts and I wanted clarification.

Offtopic: Those mamba things sound delicious. I wish I could taste them in Mexico.

Never seen a French kid with a peanut allergy; they probably exist since most processed foods now have warnings about possible allergens, but they must be quite rare. In France "Nutella" is found in most homes; it's an Italian-made (and quite unhealthy) thick mixture of chocolate paste and crushed peanuts. Kids love it.

Also, this formulation is weird:

> Nothing is more unnerving than exposing your child to danger for his benefit, be it germs, shots, strangers, allergens or gravity.

There are things that can kill young kids, they should be avoided at all costs (of course!); these include: guns, swimming pools (being alone at a ~), and, first and foremost, moving cars.

But the rest of the "dangers" are GOOD for kids: "germs" are good (let them play in sandpits!), gravity (climbing trees or other structures) is good, being able to talk to strangers IS VERY GOOD because almost all strangers are not rapists and will not harm your kid in any way -- they may save her life!

Nutella doesn't contain peanuts, unless it's made differently in France:

http://www.nutellausa.com/ingredients.htm

Nutella is generally made of hazelnuts here, is the stuff in France made of peanuts?

No, I don't think so; I mixed up peanuts and hazelnuts. Sorry about that.

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