Some people notice unpleasant reactions when they treat themselves to a serving of a peanut butter and jam sandwich. These unpleasant reactions may also occur with peanuts and other peanut-containing products. If you fall into this boat, you may have a peanut allergy, a condition that affects millions of people worldwide.
A peanut allergy occurs when the body’s immune system mistakenly identifies proteins in peanuts as harmful invaders, triggering an allergic response. The severity of this response can range from mild symptoms like hives, itching, and stomach cramps to life-threatening conditions, like anaphylaxis.
Peanut allergy symptoms typically appear within minutes of exposure to peanuts or peanut-containing products, underscoring the urgency of immediate treatment. A family history of allergies significantly increases the likelihood of developing a peanut allergy, as does the presence of other allergic conditions like asthma or eczema.
Managing a peanut allergy naturally involves a combination of avoiding allergens and seeking medical interventions like oral immunotherapy (OIT). While avoiding peanuts is the primary method for prevention, some individuals may benefit from OIT, a treatment where the patient is gradually exposed to increasing amounts of peanuts to build tolerance.
Learn more about peanut allergy here, including its symptoms, causes, and natural treatments.
What Is Peanut Allergy?
Peanut allergy is a condition in which the body’s immune system overreacts to peanut proteins, treating them as harmful invaders. A peanut allergy is a type of food allergy which broadly refers to the immune response to eating, touching, or inhaling a protein in food.
The immune system is the body’s defense against infections and other harmful invaders. Usually, the immune system only responds to substances that can potentially harm the body. However, in food allergy, the immune system treats a protein in food (known as an allergen) as harmful to the body, generating an antibody-mediated immune response. The foods that account for most food allergies include shellfish, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, fin fish, egg, wheat, soy, and sesame seeds.
The prevalence of food allergies has been on a steady rise over the last 3 decades, especially among people in industrialized regions. According to study estimates from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois, around 11% of US adults are confirmed to have a food allergy, and up to 19% of adults believe they have a food allergy. Peanut allergy affects up to 4.5 million people in the United States and is the leading cause of food allergy-related deaths.
Get personalized support for peanut allergy testing and management at Bay Clinic of Chiropractic. Schedule your consultation today with Dr. Salamay a nutrition response testing practitioner in Panama City, FL.
What Are the Symptoms of Peanut Allergy?
Common peanut allergy symptoms include skin reactions, gastrointestinal problems, and respiratory problems. More severe symptoms, like anaphylaxis, may also follow. Peanut allergy symptoms usually occur within a few minutes of exposure, with nearly all symptoms occurring within two hours.
The peanut allergy symptoms can be divided into two groups based on their severity:
- Common symptoms
- Hives
- Swelling of the skin
- Redness
- Itching
- Digestive issues, such as cramps, nausea, vomiting
- Severe symptoms
- Tingling of the mouth and throat
- Swelling of the lips
- Shortness of breath
- Anaphylaxis (anaphylactic shock) is a life-threatening reaction characterized by itching, hives, wheezing, breathing difficulties, and a drop in blood pressure. Anaphylaxis is often the end stage of peanut allergy symptoms and requires urgent medical care.
What Causes Peanut Allergy?
Peanut allergy is caused by an overreaction of the immune system to peanuts and peanut-containing foods. When allergic people first take in peanuts, the immune system identifies peanut antigens and produces specific IgE (immunoglobulin E) antibodies to these antigens.
Further exposure to peanuts triggers an IgE antibody cross-linking with IgE receptors on basophils and mast cells, which are responsible for releasing histamine, cytokines, and chemokines that promote the allergic reaction. This reaction is also known as a hypersensitivity reaction.
Genetics has the most significant influence on the development of peanut allergy. People with a family history of allergies or atopic conditions are at a higher risk of having peanut allergy. Below are some factors that can increase the risk of developing a peanut allergy.
- Family history of peanut allergy
- Other food allergies, including egg and nut allergies
- Peanut consumption during pregnancy
- History of atopic conditions, such as eczema, hay fever, asthma
Managing Peanut Allergy Naturally
The natural management of peanut allergy mainly involves avoiding allergens and oral immunotherapy. However, these natural options are inadequate in managing people with active peanut allergy symptoms, including skin and gastrointestinal symptoms, as well as anaphylaxis.
People actively experiencing peanut allergy symptoms typically require more invasive treatments, particularly epinephrine. Other supportive therapies may also be necessary to ensure complete recovery. Therefore, you should not hesitate to contact your allergist or healthcare provider if you have peanut allergy symptoms.
We will cover the natural treatments for peanut allergy in more detail below.
Avoidance of Allergen
The current standard of care for effectively managing peanut allergy is avoiding allergens entirely. Allergens are substances that can trigger an immune response when ingested, and in the case of peanut allergy, the allergens are peanuts and peanut-containing foods. Therefore, people with a peanut allergy should avoid peanuts and foods containing peanuts.
Avoiding peanuts is relatively straightforward, but this is not the case with foods that contain peanuts. According to a federal law (the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act), packaged food manufacturers must clearly state when their products contain a major food allergen, including peanuts. A quick look through the product labels and ingredient section should reveal whether it contains peanuts.
However, some products may contain peanuts and still do not have peanuts in their ingredient section because peanuts were not intended as an ingredient. In products like this, the presence of peanuts may be due to cross-contact during food processing. For instance, manufacturers making tree nut products may also use the same equipment for peanuts, introducing the risk of peanuts in their final nut products.
Products that may contain specific allergens, despite the allergen not being an ingredient, often have a “may contain” section. This section lists possible allergens in the product. However, manufacturers are not obligated to include a “may contain” section. Before taking any packaged product, carefully read its ingredient list and the “may contain” section. Avoid products that contain or may contain peanuts. You also should not take the product if you have doubts about its ingredients unless you confirm with its manufacturers or distributors.
Oral Immunotherapy
Oral immunotherapy (OIT) refers to feeding an allergic person increasing doses of an allergen to desensitize them over time to the allergen. A desensitized person will have a less intense allergic reaction to the allergen. OIT for peanut allergy involves feeding an allergic person increasing peanut amounts.
Oral immunotherapy begins with an amount that is too little to trigger an allergic reaction and stops at the highest dose the individual can tolerate without generating a reaction. There is no guarantee that OIT will cure a peanut allergy and fully desensitize the allergic individual to peanuts.
However, OIT can increase the peanut threshold, which may trigger an allergic reaction, which is especially important in preventing severe symptoms from accidental ingestions. The best time to induce OIT is in childhood when the immune system is still maturing, as the increased exposure modifies the child’s immune response to peanuts.
Oral immunotherapy effectively manages peanut allergy, with desensitization rates among people who take OIT reaching 80%. However, there are side effects associated with OIT, including abdominal pain, vomiting, cramping, wheezing, rash, itching, and eosinophilic esophagitis (which causes swallowing difficulties, stomach pain, and vomiting). OIT may also be stressful for patients because of the long-term commitment required for effective treatment.
Probiotics
Probiotics are live microorganisms that provide health benefits when consumed in adequate amounts, commonly found in fermented foods, like yogurt, kefir, kimchi, and sauerkraut. Probiotics can help reduce the risk of developing peanut allergies by influencing the gut microbiome (community of microorganisms living in the gut) and balancing immune responses.
An Oxford Academic study showed that probiotics can reduce allergy-promoting immune responses in favor of more controlled immune responses. The study also found that supplementation is most effective during pregnancy and infancy, compared to during pregnancy or infancy alone. During pregnancy, probiotics improve maternal gut microbiota against allergic responses, which is passed to the child. Continued supplementation during infancy further strengthens the gut’s ability to control allergic immune responses.
While more research is needed on the full potential of probiotics for allergy management, current evidence is promising. For the best results in managing peanut allergy, however, probiotics should be combined with other natural treatments, especially oral immunotherapy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can You Eat Other Nuts if You Have a Peanut Allergy?
Yes, most people with a peanut allergy can eat other nuts, as peanuts are legumes and not tree nuts (such as almonds, cashews, walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, and pecans). However, about 30% of people with peanut allergies will also have a tree nut allergy. Therefore, you should still take allergy tests before taking other nuts if you have a peanut allergy.
Additionally, cross-contact between peanuts and other tree nuts is common in food processing, implying that tree nut food products may still contain some peanuts. Therefore, you should carefully read the label when choosing any nut products. Before introducing these nut products into your diet, you should also consult your healthcare provider.
Can Peanut Allergy be Prevented?
Yes, peanut allergy can be prevented by introducing peanut-containing foods to children at an early age, usually before their first birthday. This early introduction reduced the risk of developing peanut allergy by 80% by age 5.
A study funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases found that protection from peanut allergy also lasted into adolescence, regardless of how often these children eat peanuts in their later childhood. The study also found that how children are first exposed to peanuts through eating or skin exposure influences allergy development. Children first exposed to peanuts by skin contact may be more sensitive to them later in life.
How Is Peanut Allergy Diagnosed?
The diagnosis of peanut allergy typically starts with an assessment of symptoms and medical history, followed by a physical exam and diagnostic tests. The gold standard of testing is the oral food challenge (OFC), which involves monitoring the individual while gradually increasing the amount of peanuts they eat at regular intervals.
Despite the accuracy of an OFC in diagnosing peanut allergy, the test is costly, time-consuming, and labor-intensive, and can cause life-threatening symptoms like anaphylaxis. Therefore, other tests, such as skin prick tests, atopy patch tests, allergen-specific serum IgE (sIgE) tests, and total serum IgE tests, can assist in diagnosis.
If you live in and around Panama City, Florida, you can visit the Bay Clinic of Chiropractic to check your peanut allergy. We offer diagnostic food allergy testing services that can help diagnose allergies. Dr. Tony Salamay, the lead health practitioner in the clinic, can also give relevant advice on the right strategies for protecting yourself from peanut allergy symptoms. Contact us at (850) 785-9372 or through our email at info@thebaydoctor.com.
Is It Possible to Outgrow a Peanut Allergy?
Yes, it is possible to outgrow a peanut allergy. In such cases, the body develops a natural tolerance over time and does not generate an immune response to peanuts. However, only 1 in 5 people ever outgrow their peanut allergy.
Outgrowing a peanut allergy usually occurs in childhood, as early as age 4, and around 80% who outgrow their peanut allergy do so by the time they’re 8. Therefore, if you still have your peanut allergy as an adult, the chances of ever outgrowing the allergy are minimal. People who outgrow their peanut allergy may still have a recurrence over time after increasing their peanut intake, although this situation is rare.
Conclusion
Peanut allergy is an adverse food reaction that occurs due to an immune response ingesting peanuts and peanut-containing products. From common skin reactions to potentially life-threatening anaphylaxis, peanut allergy symptoms demand careful monitoring and management, usually by avoiding food triggers. Early diagnosis can significantly help with allergy management and possibly prevention.If you live in and around Panama City, Florida, you can contact the Bay Clinic of Chiropractic at (850) 785-9372 or info@thebaydoctor.com for more information on diagnosis and management of peanut allergy.
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