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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Assuming the correct interpretation of your question is “of the people with allergies, why are peanuts the most prevalent”, that’s likely a false assumption and/or is regional based.
In the US, [the most prevalent allergy is shellfish (based on a 23 year old study)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10200001/) by far, at over 50% more common than the next two on the list – milk and shrimp. Peanuts are pretty high on the list, but are only number 4.
That said, why does it *seem* so common? Probably because peanuts have a great shelf life and don’t need to be refrigerated or prepared after packaging to be safe to consume. You can buy peanuts, open them, and they stay safe for a month or longer at room temperature (how long really depends on where you look). Packaged and refrigerated they can last a year or so. Shellfish, milk, shrimp? Those all have a much shorter shelf life and need refrigeration.
So with those above considerations, it’s significantly easier to find peanuts in all sorts of scenarios, whereas the more common US allergies are only really found in kitchens or restaurants. So even though peanuts aren’t the most common food allergy in the US, they’re easily the most common to be found outside of homes/restaurants….where it’s harder for people with such allergies to avoid them.
They’re also dry and shed dust which can trigger the allergy long past the presence of actual peanuts.
tl;dr – Peanuts are *not* the most common allergy (in the US at least), but they’re much easier to be exposed to than the more common allergies so it’s easier to trigger a peanut allergy in significantly more situations.
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