According to the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 3 million Americans now have some sort of a nut allergy. Children, in particular, seemed to be especially sensitive to nuts. The number of children living with a nut allergy have nearly tripled from 1997 to 2008. This number is staggering and begs the question, why is there a significant increase in nut allergies for Americans?
The Cause
There are many theories about what exactly is causing the increase in nut allergies. Doctors have agreed that it seems to be a number of factors that have contributed to this First World Problem. Here are a few:
• Hygiene: Society seems to have an obsession with extreme cleanliness. The constant use of hand sanitizers and antibacterial soaps leaves our immune systems weak and defenseless. In the case of children, the excessive cleanliness disrupts the normal development of the immune system, which would normally aid in fighting off food allergies. However, nut allergies have been
…show more content…
Many years ago, we worked on farms and our bodies were tough and could fight off all sorts of bacteria. Now we’ve become a drug-induced society, thinking medication is the cure for everything and our immune systems have become even weaker as a result of it.
• Diet: The Western diet has dramatically changed over the last 20 years. Much of our food is overdosed with GMO’s, chemicals sugar and animal fat, and children are eating that food at a very young age. Our decrease in gut bacteria plays a large role into how we’re able to stave off negativity in the body. In a study by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they compared the gut flora of African children with children from Italy. It found, by in large, the African children had much a much stronger flora because their diet was mostly vegetarian and mimicked the diet of how humans ate 10,000 years ago.
The
I first went with an article published back in 2009 which argues that most schools at the time were over reacting to peanut allergies. The article titled Have Americans Gone Nuts Over Nut Allergies? by Tiffany Sharples in Time magazine uses three extreme cases where schools over reacted to peanut allergies. One case the article discusses is that of a San Francisco school where the school nurse forced children to scrub their hand prior to entering the school and then confiscated packed lunches to remove any peanut based products. Another example was that of a Connecticut town that cut down three nut bearing trees because the grandmother of one student complained it posed a threat to her grandson who had a sever nut allergy. The author’s final example is a Massachusetts school bus that was evacuated because a stray peanut was found on the floor of the bus. These are excellent examples of how schools have over reacted to peanut allergies over the years. The author also uses two doctors to evaluate whether reactions like the ones described were over reactions. Both doctors did agree the instances were extreme but felt the public at large responds more reasonably. One doctor in the article suggest that reactions like these are caused by social spread of anxiety and over diagnosis. The author also mentions parents
The increased prevalence of food allergies in school children, the rapid onset of symptoms and potentially fatal nature of anaphylaxis, combined with the high risk of accidental exposure warrants significant action.
Contact with certain fields can be fatal for some children with allergies. This means that great care has to be taken and I system must be designed to vent children from coming into contact with their allergen (for example nuts or dairy products). Where the allergy is severe, this may affect the food that can be prepared and eating in the setting as some children can have a reaction just from being near other children who are eating food containing and allergen.
If you have a picky eater, and/or you want to provide your child with a certain snack, you are free to do so. We currently do not have any food allergies in our classroom; however, this is a nut free school and as a result, we cannot give to the children any snacks containing nuts. If there are any other specific allergies that I become aware of, I will let you know immediately.
This was a rare day in my everyday life of being allergic to nuts and sesame seeds. Many people have heard about food allergies, but do not actually know what they are. A food allergy is when the immune system produces antibodies in defense against a substance that is actually not harmful to the body. There is no cure for food allergies yet, and the reaction can ultimately be life threatening. Dealing with an allergy is an everyday challenge that has forced me to become more aware of the food I eat. My family and I discovered my allergy at a young age, and one of the ways I manage it is by always
About 17 to 18 million U.S. citizens (http://www.parentherald.com/articles/22242/20160222/oral-immunotherapy-reverse-children-s-food-allergies-100-percent-combined.htm) have allergies to at least one food. There is a 65 percent chance of tehir children inheriting their allergies. It is estimated that one-quarter of food allergic people will suffer an episode of anaphylaxis (http://stanmed.stanford.edu/2014fall/i-can-eat-it.html)
In children under the age of two years, does the introduction of peanut based foods help decrease the incidents of peanut allergies compared to the delayed introduction of peanut based foods within the first year of life.
“The peanut is responsible for allergic reactions in both children and adults. Over the last several decades the incidence of peanut allergy in children has dramatically increased. Now, about 1% of children in the United States have peanut allergy. Peanut allergy is probably the most common cause of death from food anaphylaxis in the United States. Peanut allergy, unlike other food allergies, is rarely outgrown, with only about 20% of patients losing their sensitivity over time. Once a diagnosis has been made, peanuts should be treated with strict avoidance” (Lieberman & Anderson, 2007, pg
For some people who are very sensitive towards peanuts, very small quantities of peanuts can also cause severe reactions. ("Peanut Allergy...The Shocking Facts - Allergies: Allergy Symptoms, Treatment, and Medications on MedicineNet.com", n.d.)
Some people believe that putting a banning nuts might not be a good thing because teachers and kids could become very sick or even die. 'Kathy Willans asked her son's school to ban nuts.' The school decided not to ban nuts. Now other people say there are other ways to deal with nut allergies such as putting the students with nut allergies to put then in another room where there are no nuts. They say it is a better way because kids with out nut allergies can enjoy nuts.
I’ve had several health issues in my lifetime. Some of them might not be that big of a deal or extreme; however, it’s hard for me because I constantly have to cope with it. And who knows, I will probably have more problems to deal with when I’m older. I’ve had severe asthma, torn ligaments, and surgery on a severely infected appendix when I was little. They might all not be that much of a deal, but I know that my Tree Nut allergy is. I’ve had this since I was three years old but don’t remember anything from when it happened except that it was extremely bad. Ever since, it’s been routine to go to the allergist and watch what I eat. I have to go and get blood work and all kinds of tests done to see what I’m allergic to and how bad it is. I can’t
Ever since I can remember I have had to deal with the fact I have a fairly severe peanut allergy. Luckily for me, I was able to find out very early on and have grown up my entire life avoiding a food that is a staple for most children. As far back as I can remember I have been reading every single ingredient list for a food I was about to eat and if I wasn’t sure what was in something, not eating it.
Allergic reactions are not something to be trifled with, as someone I’ve met would instantly be hospitalized with even slight exposure to nuts. However, don’t get a false sense of security as the thing is, GMOs aren’t limited to current allergies, and
Food allergies are abnormal immunological responses to a special food or food component . Two types of abnormal immunological responses can happen immediately and delayed reactions. Both are well documented to occur in certain individuals at ingestion of specific foods.recently These illnesses are spread and sometimes called individualistic reverse reactions to foods because they affect only certain individuals in the population.In addition ,Cause of food allergy enter hospital almost thirty thousand people to the emergency room, and up to a hundred to two hundred deaths each year (Taylor and Hefle. 2005).
If anyone notices that a child develops symptoms after being exposed to certain foods, then the child should avoid such foods. The most common foods that can cause allergies include: peanuts, tree nuts (walnuts, pecans, etc.), fish, shellfish, eggs (especially egg whites), milk, soy, and wheat. Keeping a diary for a few weeks and recording what foods a child has been eating, especially new foods, and when they develop symptoms may help figure out what they are allergic to. This is often what professionals encourage families to do to get to the true cause of what is making them so ill. Once it has been determined what a child is allergic to, it is important to learn to read food labels because the food a child is allergic to may be an ingredient of many other foods.