Where did all these peanut allergies come from?

The exact cause is unknown, but many theories say that it is caused by the consumption of peanuts during pregnancy or breastfeeding. Once, I heard that the rising consumption of boiled / salted peanuts was what caused the rise of peanut allergies. There is also the theory that exposure to soy milk could cause it. For each of these studies, however, there is another study that found no such link.

Another thing is that the perceived amount of allergies has been inflated by disproportionate media coverage. According to Wikipedia, about 150 children die from food allergies every year. 10,000 children are hospitalized for brain injuries from sports. 2,000 children drown. 1,300 children die from guns.

Any sufficiently advanced society will slow down or halt the process of natural selection.

What used to kill kids before reproduction age can now be addressed medically with minor effort. And so many people with various physical infirmities are able to contribute to the gene pool… passing along those problems to their kids.

The exact cause is unknown, but many theories say that it is caused by the consumption of peanuts during pregnancy or breastfeeding.

Any sufficiently advanced society will slow down or halt the process of natural selection.

While I understand both of these points – I don’t understand how either of these would occur so fast or all of a sudden. People have been eating peanuts while pregnant for hundreds (thousands?) of years? What happened in the past 20 years?

@Charles Peanuts today are heavily processed, just like most food in the western diet. Also, allergies are also being linked with salted / boiled peanuts, not just any ordinary peanuts. Peanut butter, which is heavily processed, is actually a relatively modern invention, and has only become very popular within the last century. The main thing to remember is that these studies are far from conclusive.

There are statistics I saw in a film once that showed that since genetically modified peanuts began to be released, the allergies to peanuts have gone up by huge amounts. If in this case correlation is causality, then that would explain why all these allergies have emerged so fast and suddenly. Sorry, I don’t know the film’s name.

@Charles an important thing to note as to why you hear about the peanut allergies: The allergic can have a life threatening reaction from just breathing in or touching peanuts. That’s why they’ve removed them from most schools/public places (like planes).

Both my aunt & cousin have had severe reactions. My aunt’s worst bout had her in the hospital (where she coded 5x prior to getting her stable). What had set her off was the cafeteria making peanut squares for the kids. She walked in, bought a milk, then collapsed. Luckily another teacher knew enough to get her an injection and dial 911.

Peanuts are legumes. Both have strong reactions to peas, as well. But, it’s rare to hear about the peas…whereas most people have some knowledge of peanut allergies.

@Charles Also, when a school bans peanut products, it is often because of only a handful of kids. There could be five people out of a school of many hundreds to thousands of children, but if those five people were very highly allergic, then the school could ban peanuts for everyone to prevent those five people from being exposed. Once a school bans peanuts, many thousands of people hear about the allergies that only five people have, leading to a sort of observation bias. Nobody talks about when there is no one allergic, but everyone is informed when a few people are allergic.

Peanuts today are heavily processed

Significantly more than when I was a kid in the 1970s? Hard to believe.

an important thing to note as to why you hear about the peanut allergies: The allergic can have a life threatening reaction from just breathing in or touching peanuts. That’s why they’ve removed them from most schools/public places (like planes)

and

when a school bans peanut products, it is often because of only a handful of kids.

I understand this but where people just as susceptible 30 years ago and we didn’t realize it (meaning, today we are more aware) OR are people more susceptible today?

Did you see M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening? Same thing: peanuts, strawberries, milk, et al are evolving self-defense mechanisms to prevent us from eating them.