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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One thing I haven’t seen addressed is why allergies are becoming more prevalent.
I’m going from memory here, so correct me if I’m wrong.
One reason that peanut allergies in particular appear to be increasing is the increase in testing in children, and avoidance. Before testing was prevalent, a greater proportion of those with allergies went undiagnosed and through exposure, developed a tolerance to the allergen over time as they developed from childhood into adulthood.
When we started diagnosing more, the medical advice was to avoid the allergen completely. However this prevented many that would have developed a tolerance through gradual exposure from doing do. This is dangerous, because the severity of reactions is higher in the unexposed, which has been linked with increasing mortality rates from things like peanut allergies in adults.
Exposure therapy is becoming more widespread in those diagnosed with things like peanut allergies as a consequence.
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