Of all the foods on the planet, why are peanuts the one that most people seem to be allergic to? It seems quite random. What about them causes such a prevalence of allergic reactions?
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nobody is actually answering OP’a question as to why peanuts cause allergies.
One important thing to understand can be seen if look to an even more common allergen, egg whites. Antibodies bind to specific sites of pathogens, leading to immune a response. The same thing happens with allergies. Both eggs and peanuts are made of primarily the same protein. The protein’s line up in a repeating pattern that gives the antigen (IgE in this case) lots and lots of the same binding to attach to. The allergies is in essence to that specific binding site. A food with a less regular surface has a lot more options to bind to and is less trigger the patient to develop the allergy in the first place.
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