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?
In: 1655
By the way, the main reason there are “a lot” of peanut allergy sufferers today is linked with bad science from 20 years ago: [https://www.preventallergies.org/blog/why-are-peanut-allergies-on-the-rise](https://www.preventallergies.org/blog/why-are-peanut-allergies-on-the-rise)
Basically, someone recommended that we NOT introduce peanuts to babies and young children in order to avoid allergic reactions, and it made everything worse.
>But in the late 1990s and early 2000s, doctors changed their approach.
They mistakenly thought that delaying the feeding of peanut for several
years was the best approach to preventing peanut allergies.
Uh-oh!
>But when these recommendations to delay feeding peanut were introduced,
there was no study to support these recommendations. Rather, they were
just based on physicians’ guesses.
Whoops!
>Today, we know that this approach to delay peanut introduction actually increases food allergy risk, and that delayed introduction was a major factor that led to the sharp increase in peanut allergies.
>
>Thanks to landmark clinical studies, we now know that the opposite approach—feeding baby peanut early and often, before they turn one—is the best way to prevent peanut allergies.
Whew!
(sound effects added for the 5-year-old)
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