nut allergy in children

[Katieb]

Thank you all so much again for all the useful links. Thanks also Dick for the radio broadcast info, in fact, my mother had heard it and stated exactly the same as you - that children who are introduced to nuts etc at a very young age are less likely to be intolerent/allergic to certain foodstuffs, she also mentioned that asthma is linked closely with nut allergies (my daughter has both!). It certainly seems logical though, that if you are introduced to something from birth you build up your own immunity against it. I tried so hard to avoid peanuts and peanut butter whilst pregnant just like many other expectant mums - perhaps it wasn't such a good idea after all. Our specialist has suggested our daughter has "desensibilisation" treatment for her allergy towards acariens, whereby the treatmant lasts 5-7 years and she is given direct doses either orally or intraveneously to build up her own immunity, they cannot do this with food allergies as it is too dangerous but just pollen, animals and acariens etc. It seems a bit extreme, but if it stops her suffering and helps her sleep better at night, it may be worth trying it.

Kate

[Clair]

Nut allergy: With one kiss, I could kill my husband

[Clair]

Crunch time for peanut allergies

[Ron Avery]

[quote user="Jura"]

'Nut allergy'...yet another trendy condition we never knew of a few years back. When I went to school in the late 70's all my school mates ate peanut butter sandwiches and none of us suffered any ill-effects.

However I notice these 'food' allergies do not occur in European kids...

Is it something in the 'nuts' these days ?

[/quote]

Must be because last week on the Ryanair flight to Rodez, I kid you not, they announced that they were not going to sell any peanuts on the flight as a passenger had asked them not to sell them because anyone opening a packet of peanuts on the plane  would set their child off on an attack of some sort[:-))].  I assume that in the UK, they obviously don't live anywhere near a peanut factory[:'(]

[Rose]

[quote user="Katieb"]

Thank you all so much again for all the useful links. Thanks also Dick for the radio broadcast info, in fact, my mother had heard it and stated exactly the same as you - that children who are introduced to nuts etc at a very young age are less likely to be intolerent/allergic to certain foodstuffs, she also mentioned that asthma is linked closely with nut allergies (my daughter has both!). It certainly seems logical though, that if you are introduced to something from birth you build up your own immunity against it. I tried so hard to avoid peanuts and peanut butter whilst pregnant just like many other expectant mums - perhaps it wasn't such a good idea after all.

[/quote]

I think you're right Dick/Kate.... we are told to avoid all nuts when pregnant and also children under five should not eat nuts due to the choking risk... maybe these two things are making the allergy situation worse?  

Also, RH - I think you are right... if food is prepared in the same environment as other products containing nuts there is the possibility of cross-contamination.  I know of one nursery school that had to have seperate cooking utensils/pots/pans for one chid with a severe allergy!  As it is now EU law I think to show allergy/product information I guess companies are just being cautious.