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Comment by rypskar | Hacker News Reader

it is good to see some progress with allergy treatment, especially peanut allergy. Many do not understand how having peanuts in the same room can cause allergy, so it is difficult to avoid it.

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I once shook hands with a new acquaintance who, unbeknownst to me, had just been snacking on a few peanuts at a bar: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7tvD65JmV45M4Mpw5

A handshake? Well that's me educated today. I'd always presumed food allergies required you to eat the problem food.

I don't think I have ever, not once, seen a media piece on allergies point out that eating isn't always required. That seems like a major failing in the reporting of allergies over the years.

Peanut allergy is often linked to pollen allergy, and peanuts can be pollen "bombs". So no need to eat it to get a reaction

Same here. I was quite surprised by the anecdote in the article about the person going into anaphylactic shock after having milk spilled on her hand.

In fact the skin reaction is utilized for allergy testing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_allergy_test

Now those I knew of, but they mostly use a pin prick or scratch, and then measure the reaction and swelling in the skin. Which if anything, reinforces the misunderstanding the allergen needs to get into the system directly. Though I hadn't encountered the patch tests wikipedia mentions.

The article and mention of handshake leave me with an entirely different impression of how careful I might need to be if I started in food preparation etc.

I went to school with someone that was dating someone with nut allergies. She mentioned if she ate nuts at all during the day and kissed him at the end of the day he'd start having a reaction and swell up. She couldn't eat nuts for the day if she was going to see him.

Yeah, I heard same room it can cause a reaction. I know a stake house we go to usually has them at the table, but last time didn’t have any. Seen someone else with some though, so apparently you can still ask for them. Probably done because of allergy concerns. Seems odd allergies seems more common than it used to be. I know I seen on the news one night they recommend introducing peanuts to babies earlier now.

I've heard more than once that its related to living conditions being so much more clean / sterile than they used to be. If you don't come across different substances regularly, your body has a hard time determining whether they are good or bad and is more likely to react when it finds them.

There is also a more specific hypothesis, that allergies are caused by the parts of the immune system that would normally be fighting off parasites.

There are a number of theories, this amongst them. There is also a connection to atopic dermatitis, which causes a skin barrier issue that allows proteins to pass.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/scientists-ide...

Allergy fear causes parents to not introduce peanuts at a young age and the lack of exposure causes peanut allergy. In Israel there is a peanut snack that children eat beginning very young. They have not seen the same uptick in peanut allergies.

Haha yeah it’s called Bamba, it’s a very delicious snack and my parents said they would let me eat a bunch of it when I was younger for this very reason. You can get it in the states.

I've seen it in Trader Joes. Its nice but I got bored of it quite quickly.

We introduced peanuts at a very early age. No impact. Our daughter had no allergies. Our son has an extreme peanut allergy. Based on this experience, I don’t believe early introduction helps.

How did anecdotal evidence of two individuals change your stance on advice based on proper, large scale research and international teams of subject matter experts? There is no claim being made that allergies can be prevented for sure, merely that early introduction to allergens significantly reduces the risk.

The American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends introducing children to peanut at an early age: https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/Pages...

It's slowly becoming the accepted norm worldwide. In the Netherlands the (very recent) advice is to start with eggs and peanuts (in the form of pure peanut butter) from four months on.

Further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis

That can't be the only explanation, my first allergic reaction was at half-hour old (yes, at 30 minutes old), still have a scar from that on my face... ('What fight gave you that one?' 'Oh, the usual, formula milk as a newborn...') Though I suspect I'm still 'lucky' to only get rashes and 'hay-fever' reactions...

Funny story, 32 years later I'm still allergic to lots of stuff (food, plastics, heat), a couple of years ago I was so sick of it I forced my GP to have me tested. (It was forced because he was of the opinion that we knew I had allergies, so testing for a known outcome wouldn't tell us anything.)

He called me back asking why I was still alive... According to the results they found traces of a raging nut and peanut allergy (and other stuff some of which they didn't bother specifying further). So why am I still alive? I can't stand the smell nor taste of them, and they 'only' give me rashes and during accidental ingestion swollen lips/tongue...

>>I can't stand the smell nor taste of them

From what I know it is common to not stand the smell and taste of what you are allergic to. When a child really refuse to eat something it can be an idea to get it tested for allergy, since it unconscious can be because of how their body react to it.

That's not just peanuts. Unfortunately essentially any allergy can be so severe that airborne particles are a problem. I met a kid who was so allergic to egg that he literally went into anaphylaxis when his parents cooked some.

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