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Peanut allergies

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Smasher_Sloan, Jul 6, 2009.

  1. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    I think it certainly does have something to do with the processing of food, the hormones and such. Could also have to do with general cleanliness, and the fact that it's gone up, and therefore kids aren't able to build up the immunities they might have otherwise.

    But it also has plenty to do with the fact that we can now send food from one part of the world to another. Think about this: 100 years ago, if you were a small child who lived near the ocean, and you were allergic to, say, shellfish, you died. Plain and simple. And no one knew why, but you died. (Got passed off as possession by the devil or whatever.) Because that's what people ate when they lived by the ocean. And because people had 12 kids and didn't expect them all to survive to adulthood.

    And eventually, natural selection bred out the shellfish allergy in that part of the world. Why is there no peanut allergy in West Africa? Because you don't live if you have a peanut allergy. And that trait gets bred out, because there's no one left to pass it on.

    Now, you can have shellfish in Kansas and corn in Seattle. And so those allergies haven't been bred out, and they become a problem again.

    But the severity of peanut allergy reactions does baffle me.
     
  2. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    I'm almost positive a major national magazine did an article about this recently.

    The biggest reason is that the environment kids are exposed to these days is too clean, leading to an increased chance of allergies.
     
  3. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    I used to be able to name every nut that there was. And it used to drive my mother crazy, because she used to say, "Harlan Pepper, if you don't stop naming nuts," and the joke was that we lived in Pine Nut, and I think that's what put it in my mind at that point. So she would hear me in the other room, and she'd just start yelling. I'd say, "Peanut. Hazelnut. Cashew nut. Macadamia nut." That was the one that would send her into going crazy. She'd say, "Would you stop naming nuts!" And Hubert used to be able to make the sound, he couldn't talk, but he'd go "rrrawr rrawr" and that sounded like Macadamia nut. Pine nut, which is a nut, but it's also the name of a town. Pistachio nut. Red pistachio nut. Natural, all natural white pistachio nut.
     
  4. ArnoldBabar

    ArnoldBabar Active Member

    Now that's comedy gold right there.
     
  5. exmediahack

    exmediahack Well-Known Member

    Nothing profound to offer on the 'why' but it is thought-provoking. Where was the demand for 'peanut free' 30 years ago? I don't remember it being an issue.

    On my son's little-league baseball team...3 of 11 are peanut-allergic.
     
  6. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    Is Buck still allergic to jelly?
     
  7. fishwrapper

    fishwrapper Active Member

    I need to find it...There was a great piece on this, and I can't find it...
    It started..."Peanuts are not nuts." And, more people die each year from bee stings and lightning than peanut allergies.

    I will poke around some more...
     
  8. Oggiedoggie

    Oggiedoggie Well-Known Member

  9. fishwrapper

    fishwrapper Active Member

    Here you go...

    http://christakis.med.harvard.edu/pdfs/BMJ_081213_Nuts.pdf
     
  10. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    Peanuts are legumes.
     
  11. expendable

    expendable Well-Known Member

    I thought I was allergic to Peanuts, but it turns out that I was just allergic to that damn bird.
     
  12. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    You have no idea how hard this made me laugh. Extremely well-done.
     
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