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60k kids have avoided peanut allergies due to 2015 advice, study finds

(www.cbsnews.com)
349 points zdw | 13 comments | 21 Oct 25 03:53 UTC | HN request time: 0.421s | source | bottom
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forgotoldacc ◴[21 Oct 25 05:20 UTC] No.45652698[source]▶
There was a period of a few decades (I guess still ongoing, really) where parents sheltered their kids from everything. Playing in the dirt, peanuts, other allergens. It seems like all it's done is make people more vulnerable as adults. People assume babies are super fragile and delicate, and in many ways they are, but they also bounce back quickly.

Maybe part of it is a consequence of the risks of honey, which can actually spawn camp infants with botulism. But it seems that fear spread to everything.

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bawolff ◴[21 Oct 25 05:37 UTC] No.45652805[source]▶
That kind of assumes they are sheltering kids, but to be honest peanuts aren't really that common a food, certainly not in foods you would commonly give a four month year old child.
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1. WillPostForFood ◴[21 Oct 25 06:02 UTC] No.45652923[source]▶
Peanut butter?
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2. ◴[21 Oct 25 06:03 UTC] No.45652925[source]▶
3. leipert ◴[21 Oct 25 06:35 UTC] No.45653066[source]▶
Really depends where you are. Here in Germany you probably would have Nutella rather than peanut butter.
4. SideburnsOfDoom ◴[21 Oct 25 07:12 UTC] No.45653260[source]▶
Peanut Butter is not a very common food, except in the USA.
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5. dragonwriter ◴[21 Oct 25 07:55 UTC] No.45653498[source]▶
A big reason that the effect of avoidance was hypothesized and the studied and nailed down is because (even when avoidance became common in the US), peanut-contain snacks were (presumably, still are, it wasn't that long ago) a very common food for very young kids in Israel.
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6. SideburnsOfDoom ◴[21 Oct 25 08:00 UTC] No.45653526{3}[source]▶
Yes, there are some counterexamples. Bamba (peanut-butter-flavored puffed maize) in Israel is one, worth studying as it is commonly given to very young kids.

But generally speaking, the USA is an outlier on the prevalence of Peanut Butter specifically, and to a lesser extent peanuts in general.

7. jamesrcole ◴[21 Oct 25 08:54 UTC] No.45653820[source]▶
it's common in Australia
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8. jdietrich ◴[21 Oct 25 09:21 UTC] No.45653953{3}[source]▶
The popularity of the Bamba peanut snack has a huge impact on peanut allergies - plausibly a 10x reduction when comparing similar populations.

https://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(08)01698-9/ful...

9. ascorbic ◴[21 Oct 25 19:31 UTC] No.45660545{3}[source]▶
UK too. And roasted peanuts.
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10. bawolff ◴[21 Oct 25 20:23 UTC] No.45661199[source]▶
Do people give their 6 month olds peanut butter? I'd worry it would be a choking hazard for a child that young.
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11. AuryGlenz ◴[22 Oct 25 06:26 UTC] No.45665509[source]▶
We sure did. Just a little on those dissolving puffs or whatever to start. Once our kids could eat (cut up) toast they had it almost every morning.
12. SideburnsOfDoom ◴[22 Oct 25 10:14 UTC] No.45666978{4}[source]▶
Peanut Butter is not as common in UK as it is in USA.

source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/charted-peanut-butter-co...

yes, there were some surprises to me there. I suspect that it's a cooking ingredient in Satay sauce for the top countries. Not on e.g. sandwiches as in the USA.

But the UK is not the same in USA.

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13. ascorbic ◴[23 Oct 25 06:13 UTC] No.45678725{5}[source]▶
You said "Peanut Butter is not a very common food, except in the USA", and my comment was an anecdotal point that it's a common food in the UK too. That chart doesn't contradict that. I'd imagine most households with children have some in their cupboard.

If you scroll down you'll see they do give context about the African countries. They're major peanut producers, and it's used in a lot of traditional cuisine.