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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Mango allergy here, and it takes days to get a reaction. Does anyone else have this?
I’m interested in WHY so many are allergic. When I was at school in the 70s and 80s no kids were.
BBC sounds, Rutherford and Fry did a really good investigation on this a couple of weeks ago. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001byym?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile
Tl;Dr you either didn’t come into contact with the thing when you were young so your body doesnt know its ok, or you got ill and ate that thing at the same time and your body thinks that thing is the reason you got ill, therefore will fight it off in the future.
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.
Why does someone eating a peanut butter sandwich across the room trigger a kid with nut allergies? Is that just histeria?
My understanding, which may answer the question rather than questioning the premise, is that the allergic compound in peanuts is not only highly concentrated in peanuts, but also is contained in the shell and the dust the peanut shells give off. So it’s not just a food allergy, it’s an airborne dust allergy. Which is why food made in a facility that processes peanuts can still trigger an allergic reaction (the dust gets on the non-peanut food item).
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