Breaking Health & Medical News - Video Stories

Your Local Doctor

Outgrowing Nut Allergies

It’s being called the kiss of death: the shocking news out of Canada this week, when a boyfriend accidentally caused his girlfriend’s death by kissing her after eating peanut butter. She was highly allergic to peanuts.

This is such a sad story.

She went into what’s called anaphylactic shock--a severe allergic reaction--and was almost immediately given a shot of epinephrine, which is the standard treatment.

Still, it was too late.

It shows you how incredibly allergic to nuts some—in fact, many-- people can be.

It is these kinds of reports that fuel the fear surrounding nut allergies among those who are allergic.

And the fear is warranted.

“We were eating a snickers bar and she wanted a bite of mine and I gave it to her, and all of a sudden she just needed it off of her tongue, she started wiping her tongue desperately, like her tongue was burning or something,” says Jacqueline Requena, Tanaya Requena’s mom. 5 year old Tanaya is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts--like cashews and almonds.

“I started to throw up and I couldn’t breathe so that is when my momma called the nurse and they took me,” says Tanaya.

“I’m watching her in front of me turn blue, her lips turn blue and she is breaking out in spots and scratching all over,” recalls Jacqueline.

Luckily, epinephrine saved Tanaya.

While deaths from peanut allergies like the one this week are rare—there are only around 50 to 100 in the u.s. each year—it takes just a very small amount to trigger an allergic reaction--exposure to just a fraction of one peanut.

But now, the good news: many patients like Tanaya eventually outgrow their nut allergies.

Dr. Clifford Bassett, Director of Allergy and Asthma Care of New York, says, “We think up to twenty percent of the time in some studies people who have peanut or other nut allergies people who have the problem may to outgrow the problem over many years.”

The latest study out of the journal of allergy and clinical immunology shows that around nine percent of those allergic to tree nuts outgrow their allergy.

Close follow up with the allergist is very important with anyone who has food allergies, especially nut allergies.
Blood tests and challenges to the nuts can be done periodically to see if the allergy wanes with time…
And this can potentially start at age four.

For now though,Tanaya’s testing shows she’s very allergic like many nut allergic individuals. “And that is why it is important for them to get tested and get proper educational techniques which is avoidance, the biggest treatment for this condition is education and avoidance and the use of an automatic Epinephrine injector for life threatening emergences both at home and at work,” says Dr. Bassett.

Fortunately, Tanaya knows what she needs to do. “I stay away from peanuts all the time,” says Tanaya.

Peanut allergies are actually very common, it’s believed around one to two percent of the allergic population is allergic to peanuts or tree nuts.

There is also evidence the frequency of peanut allergies has doubled between 1997 and 2002. It might be due to a rise in awareness, or it might have to do with the way nuts are prepared and manufactured, such as the dry roasting process.

Related Stories Links: