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Peanut allergies have plummeted in children

(www.nytimes.com)
178 points JumpCrisscross | 6 comments | 20 Oct 25 18:09 UTC | HN request time: 0.806s | source | bottom
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evereverever ◴[20 Oct 25 18:36 UTC] No.45647475[source]▶
The kids I see that have peanut allergies lived in bubbles. It seems like it is self-inflicted but I have no scientific evidence.
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foxyv ◴[20 Oct 25 18:56 UTC] No.45647721[source]▶
There are a ton of studies that indicate that early exposure to peanuts reduces incidence of peanut allergies. I'm not sure about other allergens.

https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/search-results?page=...

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1. peterfirefly ◴[20 Oct 25 18:59 UTC] No.45647762[source]▶
And yet peanut allergy is rare in Europe. Pretty strange.
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2. rimunroe ◴[20 Oct 25 20:01 UTC] No.45648554[source]▶
I thought peanut allergies were roughly as common in Europe as the US, and a quick web search seems to back this up: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6021584/
3. pfannkuchen ◴[20 Oct 25 20:08 UTC] No.45648645[source]▶
I think peanuts are eaten less commonly in Europe? Maybe it just doesn’t come up as much?
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4. viraptor ◴[20 Oct 25 20:43 UTC] No.45649082[source]▶
Europe is as much a location as the US. Eating habits in Finland are very different than in Spain. So any generalisation here will have people disagreeing. That said, I are lots of peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. It was normal.
5. peterfirefly ◴[21 Oct 25 15:57 UTC] No.45657372[source]▶
They are. But everybody does occasionally run into peanuts or peanut dust so peanut allergies are extremely unlikely to go undetected.
6. foxyv ◴[21 Oct 25 16:29 UTC] No.45657802[source]▶
Why would that be strange? Allergies seem to have a lot to do with ethnic background, family history, and environment. For instance, shellfish allergies are more common in Asia.