What is in peanuts that makes allergies to them so common compared to other food stuffs?

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What is in peanuts that makes allergies to them so common compared to other food stuffs?

In: Biology

2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Peanut allergies are really quite rare, the problem is that if you are allergic, the reaction can be SEVERE (like, you can die).

There’s lots of allergic reactions people can get from food, shellfish is a common-ish one, celery is an allergen. (Yeah, celery, which is just a green stick, is an allergen).

Milk/dairy is super common. (Compared to other allergens).

There are a lot of foods that people can be allergic to, but peanuts is one of the best known ones, not due to it’s commonality, but because of how severe it can be.

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s not that peanuts are full of more/a special kind of allergen, it’s actually that certain populations can slowly lose their tolerance to them.

It’s theorized that a lot of common allergies, including peanut allergies, can be traced back to the virtual elimination of the hookworm in first world nations. Hookworms are parasites that are found in & around feces, but they have this weird property where if you’re infected with one & treat it (dramatic language, but it’s a very mild parasite), you actually acquire immunity to a ton of common allergies.

Conversely, you almost never see peanut allergies in areas with poor public sanitation, since hookworm infections are still relatively common there.