According to The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, the most common culprit for cause of death by a food-allergy is the peanut. According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, although only 1% of the population actually has been diagnosed with the allergy, this threat is very real and does exist. People who have this allergy can have reactions ranging from hives and rashes to an extreme reaction known as anaphylactic shock.
In recent years, there has been a slew of articles by highly respected journalists that have left readers shocked, disappointed and even outraged. Why would these journalists minimize the severity of such a serious condition?
A Yuppie Invention?
The first article was by the renowned journalist, Joel Stein, whose opinionated article, Nut allergies – A Yuppie Invention,first published in the LA Times received so many outraged letters and complaints that comments are now closed. It has been posted on several other websites that are health or fitness related, although most comments sections are closed on those sites as well.
Readers of these articles need to be made aware of the very real dangers of food allergies and what can happen. Any allergist will tell you that the threat of peanut allergy is very real and is not the figment of a mother's overprotective imagination, but rather, a result of her seeing her child almost die in the hospital. It is the result of a father rushing to the emergency room with his son or daughter who is projectile vomiting, turning red and having trouble breathing when he or she just played with a toy that was handled by another child who just ate a peanut butter sandwich.
It is not some "yuppie invention" or a condition to be mocked; Scott H. Sicherer, MD, associate professor of pediatrics at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and a researcher in the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute estimates that between 100 and 150 people in the USA die each year from peanut allergies.
Do You Have to Eat Something to Have a Reaction?
In Meredith Broussard's article, Nuts To That, which was published in Slate, Ms. Broussard minimizes the validity of actual scientific studies on seafood allergies in order to support her claims that the allergy industry is trying to make money. Hopefully, she hasn't succeeded in pulling the masses away from the reality of shellfish allergy. She goes on to boldly proclaim, "We should stop scaring ourselves based on manufactured evidence and remind ourselves that the vast majority of food-related allergic episodes are treatable." What manufactured evidence? Does she mean the studies conducted by the Food Allergy Initiative? She presents a bunch of financial figures accusing FAI of donating 1.6 million dollars to funding research and paying salaries? Isn't that what is supposed to happen?
What exactly is meant when she says 'treatable?' If she is talking about the Epi-Pen saving a life as a scapegoat to be used haphazardly anytime someone has a reaction, then she is seriously mistaken. There is no cure for food allergies. The Epi-Pen is a shot of adrenaline that carries risks and side effects in itself; to flippantly declare that it should be used like an over the counter medicine is insane. Hopefully, those who don't experience food allergy firsthand will read more into this article and come to their own conclusions based on the facts and statistics of scientific evidence rather than opinion and hearsay. Journalist Patricia Pearson used the same backlash minimization tactics and mocking tone that Joel Stein used in an article in Chatelaine, called, It's Just Nuts," which starts off, "Across the country, parents and schools are cowering in fear of the tiny peanut. But are we overreacting to food allergies?" Wow. Tell that to the families of the people who die each year from this allergy.
In an NPR interview in January 2008, Meredith Broussard stated, "you have to eat something to be allergic to it." This is wrong; the peanut does not have to be eaten for a reaction to occur. Peanut oils are very easily spread from fingers onto toys, doorknobs and anything touched by the hands and peanut dust from trail mix or any dry foods can be inhaled and cause a reaction in a severely allergic individual.
What Happens During an Anaphylactic Reaction?
According to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), anaphylactic shock has been known to begin with a funny feeling or tingling in the throat; sometimes this is accompanied by a metallic or bitter taste. Hives, sweating, rapid heartbeat, wheezing, coughing, swelling of the mouth or throat, vomiting, diarrhea, a drop in blood pressure, severe cramping and loss of consciousness are other symptoms in no particular order, as symptoms vary and can occur simultaneously. An Epi-Pen or Epi-Pen Jr. (for a child) must be used as soon as possible, according to the doctor's instructions and then rushed to the nearest emergency room for further care.
Sources:
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Quick Facts Page. July 7, 2009
<www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/foodAllergy/understanding/quickFacts.htm>
Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network
http://www.foodallergy.org
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