Guest Post from NFLP Intern Brianna: The Realities of Peanut Allergies
And what we can do to help people
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Hi Friends! Happy Tuesday!
This week’s post comes to you from Brianna!
As a recent college graduate, I thought I could share something that I learned about in my capstone course, which is the importance and severity of peanut allergies.
Peanut allergies are an increasing problem in modern day society. Many factors have been altering the gut microbiome which has led to more vulnerability for food allergies. Depending on where one lives, diets might consist of more high-fat and low-fiber foods, people might be required to have more vaccinations, or they might have unsanitary living conditions which increase the vulnerability to gut parasites. All of these factors have been increasing the rate at which adolescents and young adults are becoming allergic to peanuts.
With this comes more allergic reactions. Depending on the individual and severity of their allergy, some symptoms of an allergic reaction may include wheezing, hives, shortness of breath, closing of airways, swollen facial features, diarrhea, and much more.
The concern of this is that even though these symptoms may be isolated reactions, the recurrence of the biological effects that the reactions have on the body can trigger any co-morbidities that a person may have.
An example of this is that the nasal passages can become inflamed during reactions and after time, this will increase one’s chances of triggering a sinus infection. Allergies can also trigger an asthma attack because the inflammation causes the airways to become swollen and therefore narrowed. In addition, it can worsen eczema as it weakens the skin’s barrier function.
Depending on how severe the allergy is, people who have them may experience a decrease in the overall quality of life.
For this reason, it is important to treat allergies as best as possible to allow enjoyment of typical life activities and to be able to feel the best as possible. There are treatments to try to get rid of allergies, such as oral immunotherapy and allergy shots, that are administered over a period of 3-6 months, about 1-3 times a week, and then maintained for another 3-5 years.
These treatments are effective for some people, but not all of the 6.1 million people—and about 1 in 13 children—who are affected by peanut allergies.
At a clinic in Texas, one vial of medication for allergy shots costs $600. This vial can last up to one year; however, some may need additional vials throughout the year, which will cost $300 a piece. In addition to that, the actual administering of the injection is $10 each.
With this lengthy and costly process, it is clear that current allergy treatments require an immense amount of time, energy, and money. Because of this, studies involving the gut microbiome have been proposed to minimize the steps to become allergy free, or to manage allergies.
Current studies will open the doorway to understanding what bacteria in the gut microbiome directly affects the susceptibility of having peanut allergies. The microbial differences show that some bacteria strengthen the intestinal lining which prevent allergic reactions, or that some block receptors from recognizing immune cells.
I get that diving into all that jargon can become difficult to understand; however, increasing public awareness of peanut allergies, in general, can already be helpful so that people can be aware of their own allergies, allergies or friends and family members, or that parents are aware of the dangers and may be more inclined to get their children tested at a young age.
One way we can increase this awareness is to target high schoolers since the lessons can help them later in life in dealing with their own children, as well as better understanding the experiences of their friends, siblings, etc that may have the allergy.
Here is a short activity/lesson that can be given to a high school class or group of teens:
Each person will think of a food with peanuts in the recipe. This food cannot contain peanuts by itself, and it cannot be a snack containing pieces of peanuts. The peanuts must be otherwise integrated into the food. So like not actual peanut butter or Reese’s, which are obvious, but like potato chips that happen to be cooked in peanut oil. If they need help thinking of foods, they can look some up online.
Then they will be asked to use the internet to find a recipe for the food they thought of. Now they will scroll to the ingredients section, find the peanut-based ingredient, and figure out a substitution for it.
They must convert the correct amount of ingredients they picked to act as the substitute.
Then they will present to each other in small groups, or present to the class. This can allow for understanding of the types of products that contain peanuts, and also possible substitutions.
This exercise can give teens an insight to what people with allergies must be aware of everyday. They must scan the food, inquire about its ingredients, and hopefully they can have the food, or else they must eliminate it completely, or find a substitute for the allergen.
After this activity, teachers can hypothetically share slides discussing the research being done on this proposed study. It would touch on the basis of gut microbiome and what factors influence the microbes one has in their intestines. The presentation might also compare and contrast bacteria levels in people that currently have peanut allergies, and those that have grown out of their peanut allergies.
This will ultimately show how the gut microbiome plays a large role in the severity and susceptibility of having peanut sensitization.
Hopefully after being educated on this topic, students will be able to see how peanut allergies can be so detrimental in someone’s life, and why continued research and awareness on this is so crucial in the healthcare field.
I wrote a whole grant proposal about this so if you have any questions or want to know more specifics, please let me know!
Thanks for reading!
Till next time :)
Brianna