How do people with peanut allergies function in the workplace, for example, where someone could be snacking on peanuts at his/her desk?
People with severe peanut allergies have to be extremely cautious when they are away from home, taking pains to avoid any products that might contain peanuts or peanut oil, making sure that their collegues know NOT to snack on peanuts in the work area, and carring an epinepherine pen with them for emergency use. It’s not fun, I’m sure.
I hope Jinx doesn’t put the smackdown on me for a related hijack.
Peanuts are a legume - like beans - yet I often hear of people having a reaction to peanuts and other nuts. But other nuts are essentially a “tree fruit”, yes? No?
How can one be allergic to THIS legume but not to, say, lima beans - or even soy products, which seem to be in about everything? And how does one allergic to a legume become allergic to a tree?
Altho peanuts belong to the legume family, they have much in common with nuts, including many of the ingredients contained in nuts, and are usually considered in the same class as nuts as far as health benefits. I don’t know which ingredient causes the allergy but it probably is in true nuts as well.
Sidebar–It’s a bizarre trait I know, but I like to read the obscure messages on the back of packages.
More than once I have seen a statement such as “The machinery used to process(harvest) this product was also used with peanuts.”
That mysterious ingredient is what I want to know.
And - to further the hijack - I know someone who is allergic to pumpkins but not other squash.
Anyone wanna attack one, the other, or both?
Person with peanut allergy logging in…
First of all, MOST people with peanut allergies (including yours truly) CAN exist in a room with peanuts without falling over dead. In fact, even if I accidently ingest a mouthful of peanut-contaminated stuff I will not require a trip to the hospital (A day later, I will be spending an inordinate amout of time on the toilet, and I will probably break out in another Spectacular Rash)
However, of all the things that cause Sudden Death Allergies, peanuts are a common culprit. So yes, some unfortunates really ARE that sensitive.
As for why you could be allergic to, say, peanuts but not lentils or soy nuts… no one quiet knows. Apparently, allergies can be VERY specific, and often are. That said, if you’re allergic to one legume you are at higher risk for developing an allergy to other legumes.
Me, I can safely eat many things that are common food allergies - wheat, milk, tree nuts, soybeans - but the common fruit “tomato” is forbidden to me.
All of this makes eating out extremely exciting, sort of like an extreme sport, but with a higher risk of incapcitation and/or death. How do you cope? You keep medicines with you, you are VERY careful about what you eat, and occassionally have to excuse yourself to go in search of diphenhydramine during a meal.
What’s the “magic ingredient” that triggers an allergy? It’s protein. Specifically, it’s a particular protein found in the item. If that protein occurs in more than one thing, you’ll be allergic to all things with that protein (this has caused some concern with genetically engineered food). So… if you’re allergic to a protein found only in peanuts, peanuts will be your only allergy. If, however, you are allergic to a protein found in ALL legumes, then you’ll be allergic to all of them.
And I wish they’d come up with a cure for the damn problem!
I am allergic (severely) to peanuts. I also have less severe allergic reactions to some (but not all) tree nuts. The way I sense the allergic reaction to peanuts and tree nuts is identical except in degree, so I suspect that a very similar protein is involved. I am fairly strongly allergic to macadamia nuts and less so to almonds. I am not allergic at all to pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, brazil nuts, or cashews.
I have a very mild allergy to some other legumes, but I sense the allergic reaction differently from peanuts and tree nuts. So I suspect the protein may be rather dissimilar to the peanut one. Interestingly, I only get the reaction to peas, lima beans, and blackeyed peas that have been canned. Fresh and frozen vegetables cause no problems.
The is a very recently added contribution to our life expectancy, made only under duress as nearly as I can tell. What it means is that the company can’t be bothered to clean their machinery and a few crumbles of peanuts are probably present in the product. If I happen to eat those crumbles I will be very sick. This actually happened to me in the late 70s before those statements appeared.
Chava
A very good friend of mine is very allergic to peanuts, wall nuts and sesame seeds. You’d never realize how ubiquitous sesame seeds are until you have to avoid them.
Haj
Eating dinner with someone who has food allergies is also an adventure- dropping everything in the middle of a meal to run to a K-Mart and buy some benadryl, etc. Fact of the matter is, it’s a medical condition. Everyone is allergic to something; for me it’s penicillin. Others aren’t as lucky and have to be more careful. No big deal, no big issue. You learn your limitations, as Clint said, and you go on.
b.
(not, of course, that I’m minimizing the difficulties of a restrictive diet- I feel for anyone who has to be so careful when they eat)
b.
My mom is a classic peanut allergic. Fortunately she’s an RN-turned-Nurse Practitioner, so she’s comfortable with the idea of carrying intravenous antihystamines in her purse for a possible self-injection.
She can sit across the room from the kids making the pbj sandwiches, but we always had to wash the knife by and and then put it in the dishwasher too. And DON’T use the pb first, and then the jelly.
I would have thought that someone would have ID’d the protein these people react to, and then maybe the gene that causes this, as this might give some critical insight into the function of the immune system.
On the good side, she says that allergic people don’t tend to get much cancer. I guess they find it and attack it better.
It’s not a matter of “ID-ing the protein”. The problem is, it could any number of proteins. Even if two people are allergic to peanuts, they may not be reacting to the same protein (or even proteins)
Nor is it at all likely that it’s just one gene. And even if you DO have the gene(s), it requires an environmental trigger in order for you to get allergies in the first place.
Oddly enough, there’s evidence that the “trigger” is actually a LACK of something in the environment… specifically, a lack of intestinal parasites. Wherever the worms and flukes have been eliminated from a population allergies appear. The theory (still not entirely proven) is that the mechanism for dealing with the pinworms and cutworms and hookworms and tapeworms misfires when these critters aren’t present, attacking the body’s own self.
Unfortunatley, once you have allergies, acquiring a parasitic infestation does not seem to solve the problem. If it did, I’d be happy to adopt a tapeworm.