So tonight, My wife and I were eating some peanut butter Cap’n Crunch. Without thinking I gave my 1 year old son a piece. We’ve kept him away from nuts so far because you can’t help but be paranoid about it with all the recent hype about peanut allergies, plus, she has some family members who are allergic.
Anyway, my question is this. He survived the piece of cereal without any reaction, other than not liking it very much. Does this mean he’s OK with it? Is there enough peanut butter in a piece of cereal to trigger a reaction?
Jon
If he’s severely allergic, yes, there would be. If you really wanna know whether he’s allergic to peanuts, you can take him to an allergist who can do a test.
My guess is that a more complex question than it appears at face value. My guess is it would depend on two different things that are both hard to know. First, there are varying degrees of food allergies or any allergies. Some people can die from food allergies. Some get rashes or swelling or any number of other problems. Second, how much peanut butter is in peanut butter Cap’n Crunch? My guess is not much, but the only way to really and truly find out is probably to call the company. You can’t even trust the box’s list of ingredients. Plain M and M’s list peanuts as an ingredient even though there are no peanuts in them. Why? Because the company states is cannot absolutely guarrantee it to be completely peanut free and does not want to be sued by someone who reads the package, sees no peanuts listed as an ingredient, eats them and then still has a reaction.
He probably did have some ingestion with the cereal and he probably is safe, but I wouldn't be 100% sure of that. As I recently learned in the book Fast Food Nation, what you taste in processed foods these days has little to do with the indredients and everything to do with the additives.
For those with really severe allergies, even that tiny amount of peanut would likely be severe enough to trigger a reaction. It could be that he has a milder allergy, or one that doesn’t react to certain forms of peanut products. (I have a friend who reacts to peanuts and peanut butter, but not peanut oils) However, the fact that he didn’t have a noticeable reaction this time doesn’t mean that he’s not allergic at all. You can probably safely kiss him right after eating a peanut butter sandwich, though. As Duck Duck Goose said, allergists are good for finding out more.
Remember that most kids are not and never will be allergic to any food.
If he had a tiny bit of the cereal and didn’t have a reaction, well he didn’t have a reaction. It’s almost impossible to completely isolate a child from all possible allergens so he’ll probably be exposed to something else that might trigger a problem, if he hasn’t been exposed like that already.
I’d say try to keep him away from things like peanuts and tree nuts for another few years, but as long as he doesn’t show a reaction (rash, hives, swelling, wheezing, etc.) don’t panic if he gets an occassional exposure.
Thanks for your replies. I think I will hold off on the peanut butter for a few more years. He doesn’t seem to be allergic to anything so far, but with peanuts…hardly a week goes by without hearing some sort of terrible peanut allergy story in the news.
Jon
keep in mind that it’s generally not the first exposure that triggers a severe allergic reaction. An individual has to develop the antibodies to have an anaphylaxis, and that only happens after the body is sensitized to the offending agent. And it generally takes at least a month or two to get sensitized.
So don’t assume that a single exposure without a reaction definitively means there is no allergy.
QtM, MD