Peanuts are among the top allergens when it comes to food allergies in children

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Peanuts are among the top allergens when it comes to food allergies in children

An allergy is the hypersensitivity of the immune system to certain things. When it comes to children, we all know that they have some issues when it comes to allergies.

According to a new study, 8 percent of the children in the United States of America suffer from food allergies, and among them, about 39 percent have a history of severe reactions, while 30 percent are allergic only to certain foods. The study was lead by a group of researchers from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and they published their study in the journal Pediatrics. Before getting into the problem, let’s all get acquainted better with what allergies actually are and how they work. As said before, allergies are represented by the hypersensitivity of the immune system. Most allergies are caused by things in the environment, such as dust, pollen or other such things and the usual symptoms of these kinds of allergies are represented by a runny nose, sneezing, itchiness and redness of the eyes. Still, food allergies are among the most dangerous of them all, as they can get one person into anaphylactic shock and that can be fatal if the allergy is not treated. Anaphylaxis is that condition when someone feels as though they can not breathe and has an abrupt drop in blood pressure. According to the researchers involved in the study, the most common allergens, when it came to kids and their allergy to foods, were shellfish, peanuts and milk.

From what Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH, the leader of the study, said it seems that the allergy problem among children in the United States of America is on the rise and it can become a very serious problem, if these allergies are not kept under control. According to the data Gupta and his team analyzed, 1 in 13 children has a food allergy. This is not so worrying, however, 2 out of 5 children suffer from a sever food allergy. “For these children, accidental ingestion of an allergenic food may lead to difficulty breathing, a sharp drop in blood pressure, and even death,” said Gupta. “Now that we understand just how far-reaching the problem of food allergy truly is, we can begin taking the necessary steps to keep these children safe.” Gupta and his team of researchers hope that this study will help parents or caretakers look at the allergy problem more seriously and hopefully, children will not have to suffer too bad from them anymore. If an eye is kept on child, then there is nothing to worry about. What Gupta said was that older children were more likely to suffer from a severe food allergy, given that they are not watched so closely once they grow up. For instance, a 14-year-old is more likely than a 4-year-old (who is always accompanied by one of his or her parents) to run down the street and buy something containing milk or peanuts, for instance. That is the main reason for which parents and caretakers should control better what their children eat, in order to prevent them from developing serious problems.

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