Nut and Peanut Allergy

First grade has been a difficult parenting year for Anne. Her 6-year-old son, Justin, began eating lunch in the cafeteria with hundreds of other students armed with their peanut butter sandwiches, peanut butter crackers, and all those hidden peanuts in their processed foods.

For Justin, who has an extremely severe allergy to peanuts, it means sitting at a separate table with other children who have food allergies. But Justin isn't alone: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration estimates that 6% of children younger than 3 years old have some kind of allergy to food, putting them at risk of an allergic reaction at home, or even more dangerously, away from home.

It seems ironic that one of the most popular, most readily available proteins causes one of the most pervasive and severe allergies among Americans.

What Are Nut and Peanut Allergies?

The most common allergy-causing foods are peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, wheat, and soy, according to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN). About 1.5 million people in the United States are allergic to peanuts (which are not a true nut, but a legume - in the same family as peas and lentils). Half of those allergic to peanuts are also allergic to tree nuts, such as almonds, walnuts, pecans, cashews, and often sunflower and sesame seeds. The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology estimates that up to 2 million, or 8%, of children in the United States are affected by food allergies, and that six foods account for 90% of those food allergy reactions in kids: milk, eggs, peanuts, wheat, soy, and tree nuts.

Food allergies occur when a person's immune system mistakenly believes that something he or she ate is harmful to the body. In an attempt to protect the body, the immune system produces antibodies called immunoglobulin E (IgE). Those antibodies then cause mast cells (which are allergy cells in the body) to release chemicals into the bloodstream, one of which is histamine. The histamine then acts on a person's eyes, nose, throat, lungs, skin, or gastrointestinal tract and causes the symptoms of the allergic reaction. Future exposure to that same allergen (things like nuts or pollen that you can be allergic to are known as allergens) will trigger this antibody response again. This means that every time that person eats that particular food, he or she will have an allergic reaction.

Unlike allergies to other foods like milk and eggs, children generally don't outgrow allergies to peanuts or nuts. But over time, they should become experienced at avoiding the foods that make them ill.

Signs and Symptoms
The first signs of an allergic reaction can be a runny nose, a skin rash all over the body, or a tingly tongue. The symptoms can quickly become more serious - including signs of anaphylaxis (a sudden, potentially severe allergic reaction involving various systems in the body), such as difficulty breathing, swelling of the throat or other parts of the body, a rapid drop in blood pressure, and dizziness or unconsciousness. Other possible symptoms include hives, tightness of the throat, a hoarse voice, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and lightheadedness.