In recent years, it may have seemed that we are not hearing as much of the dire threat that is brought about by peanuts. For a time, we had to be especially wary, given that certain individuals had adverse, and sometimes severe, reactions to exposure to the snack food. In some cases, it was said an individual might be at risk without even ingesting the food; mere contact or even the tangential presence would be enough to trigger a reaction. And oddly, the number of those affected was growing.
But in recent years, this threat has appeared to be subdued. Is this a case of perception, of society becoming adjusted and inured to the hectoring that eating this food staple presented a threat, or is something else taking place? Some renewed research indicates that, as a society, we might be taking steps to minimize what had been a food-borne scourge.
We are not able to pinpoint when a shift in this took place, but peanut allergies seemed to well up a generation ago or so. The odd thing was that for many growing up prior to that, you never heard of such a thing. Then it suddenly became a known danger, and as a society, we were compelled to make adjustments. Gone quickly were the days of peanuts served by rote during airline flights. Classrooms had to instruct students not to bring the traditional PB&J lunchbox filler.
Then the warnings began to crop up in the food industry. Restaurants had to notify diners of the inclusion of the potentially deadly legume, and companies made labeling adjustments to highlight if peanuts were an ingredient – and then even if the offered product was processed in a facility where peanuts were also featured. Were we becoming soft as a society, or was there some kind of evolutionary shift taking place in our species?
Well, evidence is emerging that we may have provoked this intolerance to a degree. It is beginning to appear that an abundance of caution with infants and keeping them from exposure to peanuts could have contributed to the growing number of people with this physical aversion. The common thinking was not only to keep peanut ingestion away from toddlers, but also for preventative measures to be taken, such as directions for pregnant women and those nursing to steer them away from consuming peanuts.
Things shifted around 2008 when one research paper noted that in Britain, peanut allergies were creeping close to a 2 percent rate, yet in Israel, it was a barely measured phenomenon, arising at a rate below two-tenths of a percentage. In the Israeli culture, it is commonplace to have very young infants consuming peanut products.
Some years ago, scientific researchers began to postulate that, instead, the very introduction to this food source might help in developing a physical acceptance. The thinking was that possibly what is called an “oral tolerance” could take place. So they began to measure the incidents after compelling the high-risk groups to introduce peanuts to very young subjects.
It was not long ago that peanut allergies in the U.S. were also affecting up to 2 percent of the population, and the cases were growing. Then, in 2015, a study was released where researchers promoted the early introduction of the food to infants under the age of one year, some as young as four months old. The focus was on those infants with heavy dermatitis symptoms or egg allergies, as there was a known link between these conditions.
The results have been beyond encouraging. Two years after the initial study began, they found a drop of 27 percent in peanut allergies and 38 percent in total food allergies. The researchers adjusted the procedures and then saw further drops, as peanut allergies fell 43 percent from pre-study allergy levels. This also led to peanut allergies dropping from being the most prevalent to falling below those who displayed egg allergies.
One other early study had two groups of infants studied, one encouraged to have early consumption, and they displayed an incidence rate of peanut allergy that was 80 percent lower. While not meant to indicate there has been a cure, this does show there is a probability that the threat to this food allergy can be mitigated.
Let’s continue down this road, and in the coming years, maybe Dunkin' Donuts can be motivated to return its peanut donut to the rotation.
