Peanut "Allergies": WARNING don't try this at home
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From: David Moss on 15 May 2007 19:35 In article <1179269312.104003.3390(a)k79g2000hse.googlegroups.com>, arthur_brain(a)hotmail.com writes... This article needs a strong warning. DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME Any "peanut challenge" on children diagnosed as allergic to nuts MUST be conducted in a medical environment where emergency care is readily available. If you "challenge" your child at home and the result is a severe anaphylactic shock, the child will die or suffer severe brain damage. "The deadly truth about nut allergy is that the only way to prevent catastrophic anaphylactic shock after eating the merest trace of a nut (in some people simply touching one will trigger this extreme reaction) is to avoid them altogether." I think it is negligent in the extreme to publish an article promoting the idea of "testing" a diagnosis fo nut allergy without clearly spelling out the dangers involved and explaining why it is essential such an experiment is conducted in a medical environment where life support equipment and adrenaline injections are readily available. Nut allergy is deadly serious. For an article on how serious, see: http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=265752 > > Kids mistakenly diagnosed with nut allergy > > May 16, 2007 05:33am > Article from: AAP > > HUNDREDS of Australian parents may be worrying needlessly that their > children have a peanut allergy, because they may have been incorrectly > diagnosed, a new study found. > > Researchers have discovered that about one third of children who > returned a positive result in a skin-prick test were actually able to > eat peanuts safely. > > Sydney Children's Hospital immunologist and University of New South > Wales researcher Brynn Wainstein said the results show parents should > not automatically accept a nut allergy diagnosis. > > "Because peanut allergies are potentially serious, requiring all sorts > of restrictions, families can become very anxious when, in fact, some > of these families may be worrying unnecessarily," Dr Wainstein said. > > The study involved 84 children who had been diagnosed with a peanut > allergy without ever having eaten the nuts. > > The children were thought to suffer an allergy because after having > traces of peanut introduced into a small scratch made on their skin > with a needle, they developed a hive larger than 8mm, which is the > commonly accepted cut off size. > > But the researchers found that about one third of children who then > took a "peanut challenge", in which they ate peanuts while under > observation in hospital, had no reaction. > > After reviewing the results, the researchers found those children who > were not allergic had all developed hives smaller than 13mm. > > The result indicated the actual cut off level, when the test was > performed in their clinic - and likely many other Australian clinics - > was higher than the accepted standard. > > The researchers concluded that the test was "very subjective", and may > be affected by variables such as the equipment used and the pressure > the doctor places on the skin. > > "Essentially, the take home message was that if you don't know your > child has a peanut allergy ... and the doctor says your child is > allergic to peanut, you need to say: 'Are you sure?'," Dr Wainstein > said. > > He said for many parents it may be worth putting their children > through the peanut challenge, which was the "gold standard" of > testing. > > "The only way to know, in some cases, whether the test means you're > allergic is to do a food challenge," he said. > > About one in 200 children will have an allergic reaction to peanuts by > the age of five, in which their blood pressure drops and their tongue > and throat swell, blocking the airway. > > The reaction is potentially fatal, but can be counteracted if the > child is quickly given an adrenaline injection. > > Dr Wainstein said the researchers were further studying skin tests in > an attempt to see if the size of the hive could predict children who > would have severe a allergic reaction. > > -- DM personal opinion only The Australian Politics Resource http://sunnybar.dynip.com/politics
From: Jack Campin - bogus address on 16 May 2007 13:55 > Any "peanut challenge" on children diagnosed as allergic to nuts MUST be > conducted in a medical environment where emergency care is readily > available. > If you "challenge" your child at home and the result is a severe > anaphylactic shock, the child will die or suffer severe brain damage. The same can happen if it's done in a state-of-the-art hospital. They can't rescue everybody. Full-on anaphylaxis can overwhelm every kind of emergency treatment. Skin tests for allergies often give false positives. If a third of the people who think they've got peanut allergy are in fact misinformed, and spend a large part of their lives being unnecessarily careful, so what? Nobody *needs* to eat peanut, its nutritional role in British diets is insignificant. (I have no allergy to the stuff, but I doubt I've eaten any for months - I have neither a nutritional nor a social need for it). That way round is a lot better than false negatives getting people killed. It is also a lot better than putting a child through a potentially lethal testing process. Even skin tests are not entirely safe; a few children die every year from them (more often egg than peanut). ============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ============== Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760 <http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975 stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557
From: duh on 24 May 2007 22:39 On Wed, 16 May 2007 18:55:47 +0100 Jack Campin - bogus address <bogus(a)purr.demon.co.uk> wrote: > Skin tests for allergies often give false positives. If a third of > the people who think they've got peanut allergy are in fact > misinformed, and spend a large part of their lives being > unnecessarily careful, so what? Nobody *needs* to eat peanut, its > nutritional role in British diets is insignificant. (I have no > allergy to the stuff, but I doubt I've eaten any for months - I have > neither a nutritional nor a social need for it). In the US peanuts have been hyped as a health food for over a century. A locally famous scientist name George Washington Carver made his career out of promoting the "goober peas." President Carter was (remains?) a peanut farmer. When I was young, peanut butter sandwiches amounted to something like a quarter of my diet. This is not uncommon. Peanut butter, peanut oil, and peanut crumbs are everywhere. Peanuts are patriotic. It is politically incorrect to avoid them.
From: FACE on 25 May 2007 14:28 On Thu, 24 May 2007 22:39:38 -0400, in uk.politics.misc duh <dumpster(a)mailsnare.net>, wrote >On Wed, 16 May 2007 18:55:47 +0100 >Jack Campin - bogus address <bogus(a)purr.demon.co.uk> wrote: > >> Skin tests for allergies often give false positives. If a third of >> the people who think they've got peanut allergy are in fact >> misinformed, and spend a large part of their lives being >> unnecessarily careful, so what? Nobody *needs* to eat peanut, its >> nutritional role in British diets is insignificant. (I have no >> allergy to the stuff, but I doubt I've eaten any for months - I have >> neither a nutritional nor a social need for it). > >In the US peanuts have been hyped as a health food for over a >century. A locally famous scientist name George Washington >Carver made his career out of promoting the "goober peas." >President Carter was (remains?) a peanut farmer. When I was >young, peanut butter sandwiches amounted to something like >a quarter of my diet. This is not uncommon. Peanut butter, peanut >oil, and peanut crumbs are everywhere. Peanuts are patriotic. It is >politically incorrect to avoid them. I remember those times......... Half the kids at school had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. Half the candy bars were peanut clusters of some kind. Peanuts: raw, boiled, salted, honey roasted.......... The burning societal question was creamy or crunchy.........:-) I knew one kid with asthma. Kids with allergies were unusual. Hospitals did not have children's cancer wards. FACE
From: duh on 26 May 2007 21:04
On Fri, 25 May 2007 14:28:34 -0400 FACE <AFaceInTheCrowd(a)today.net> wrote: > I knew one kid with asthma. > Kids with allergies were unusual. > Hospitals did not have children's cancer wards. And our parents read to us the following Lewis Carrol doggerel: Speak harshly to your little boy, And beat him when he sneezes. He only does it to annoy, Because he knows it teases. Allergies were all psychological. The military would cure us or kill us. They did, too. |