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Been a suspicion of many for quite a while that the rise of "don't give babies nuts or nut-based products, they might die!" advice and going from one nut allerg
by yamtaddle 4y ago
Been a suspicion of many for quite a while that the rise of "don't give babies nuts or nut-based products, they might die!" advice and going from one nut allergy per school to one per class wasn't coincidental, but was caused by precisely that reduction in early exposure. Folk-wisdom nets a win, this time, I suppose.
- CatWChainsaw 4y agoIn addition to other societal trends about helicopter parenting, I could see parents extrapolating danger from honey to other substances out of fear, out of lack of information. (In case anyone's curious. Honey contains spores of Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium responsible for botulism/botulinum toxin aka the world's deadliest molecule. People over the age of 1 can ingest honey safely. Infants need time to build up their immune systems.)
- ajross 4y agoNitpick: it's the gut flora, not the immune system. Adults can ingest botulinum safely because in our guts it gets out-competed by the existing microbes that have been living there for years. Infants haven't developed that gut ecosystem yet, so the bad bacteria can find a home and start making toxins.
- CatWChainsaw 4y agoAh, right, thanks. I suppose that means I'd be helping my own gut flora if I had more probiotic foods, but I'm generally not fond of sour tastes.