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Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies
- jena2244 2y ago[dead]
- agp2572 2y agoThere is a theory that if your body is not exposed to enough good bacteria and other pathogens then it will build up an army to fight out non important things like pollen and peanuts. I would recommend giving kids probiotics and also not keeping environment so clean with wipes and excessive hand washing that they never get exposed to good and some bad germs.
- amelius 2y agoCan someone confirm that theory and provide evidence?
- rajup 2y agoThere are plenty of studies linked here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis
- hwbehrens 2y agoThis correlation is often referred to as the 'hygiene hypothesis' by researchers. The underlying cause is still being understood; you can find an article comparing two theories here [0]. [0]: https://www.nature.com/articles/nri35095579 https://www.nature.com/articles/nri35095579
- xeromal 2y agoThe grow up eating dirt hypothesis.
- odiroot 2y agoHey, maybe at some point we can get back our free peanuts on flights!
- cwoolfe 2y agoNuts are a very good and healthy natural snack; it's a shame they are banned by most daycares and schools now. It would be great if this became so common they could be allowed again. Without nuts...what do we have instead? Chips. granola-bars. These are highly processed foods that have other issues. Raisins or apples maybe? but they are mostly sugar. None of these options have healthy fat & protein like nuts do. What healthy snacks do you feed your children?
- blackeyeblitzar 2y agoYep, the banning of normal foods from these spaces is a detriment to everyone else. I feel it is a bit unfair, in that everyone else has to “subsidize” the few rare people with allergies. Shouldn’t the burden be on them to avoid public spaces if they’re that sensitive?
- rospaya 2y ago> Shouldn’t the burden be on them to avoid public spaces if they’re that sensitive? Depends how emphatic you are to your fellow human being. Peanuts aren't as important in most people's lives as actual people.
- heavenlyblue 2y agoHowever since we're currently seeing that allergies are treated by exposure, by removing these from canteens we are strengthening everyone's allergies for the sake of the few. In essence these few unlucky ones, including those who don't want to take the risk, are making us all more ill in the long run.
- Zach_the_Lizard 2y agoOn the other hand, avoiding peanut exposure can cause an increase in allergies, so there's a feedback loop at play. The children who now have allergies, but wouldn't with past exposure levels, are more inconvenienced than the kid who can't eat a peanut butter sandwich at school. Attempting to make life better for all has unexpected twists and turns
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- aetherspawn 2y agoI am allergic to coffee (caused by covid). It is not worth wasting the time of professional help, but coffee is important to me personally. I used to drink 3-5 cups per day, most socially. Could someone please explain how I can use Zyrtec and doses to coffee to cure this akin to how other people in this thread are curing peanut allergies? My original symptoms were severe nausea and throwing up. I have been taking Zyrtec and drinking (fractions of a cup of) coffee for some years now and this has gradually reduced the reaction. I recently came off the Zyrtec and I can drink 1 coffee per day with only minor itching and some swelling in the throat, but I think with a better method I could increase the number of coffees per day and alleviate the remaining itching/swelling. I am careful about using Zyrtec for long periods because I noticed other side effects from cetirizine such as lethargy when on it and chronic (seemingly incurable) insomnia when I came off it. Ideally if I go back on, I would want to come off after not more than 1 year. 6 months off cetirizine and the insomnia is starting to go away.
- modeless 2y agoI hope you have an epi-pen because swelling in the throat is exactly how anaphylaxis kills (by asphyxiation, and Zyrtec alone will not save you from it). Also, EoE is real and can cause permanent narrowing of your esophagus if you are reckless. Please find an allergist who can give you advice.
- nick238 2y agoI thought Aussies hate peanuts anyways. Marmite4Lyfe
- bushbaba 2y agoGive your babies bamba and peanut snacks early on. bamba snacks are believed to be the primary reason Israeli children have way less occurrence of peanut allergies.
- kazinator 2y ago"Australia starts peanut allergy treatment in little peanuts."
- hilbert42 2y agoWhen I was a kid in Australia decades ago we'd never heard of peanut allergies and swapping peanut butter sandwiches at school was the norm. No doubt there were allergies back then but what on earth has made them so much more common these days? Same with asthma. Something has gone terribly wrong.
- charrondev 2y agoI’d be curious to see statistics on this as well. If I were to hypothesize it would be a combination of 3 factors: - Nut Allergies in particular seem to be reduced with early exposure [0]. Maybe dietary trends have changed in a way that causes less early exposure? - Child mortality rate used to be much higher. Children with allergies used to be part of this mortality rate. This combined with parents with mild allergies that might have previously not survived to have children cause the incidence to increase. - People today are exposed to many more types of food. Many people who might have a particular allergy may not have ever been exposed to that allergen. Another one I’d throw out there would be nearsightedness. Of course a lot of people wear contacts, but I’d imagine incidence of glasses is higher than it used to be. Reported rates of nut allergies rates have definitely increased though. [1] [0] https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/introducing-peanut-infancy-prevents-peanut-allergy-into-adolescence https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/introducing-pe... [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8477625/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8477625/
- hnick 2y agoMultiple newer parents I've met (in Australia) have practiced complete avoidance of such serious potential allergens. The idea seems to be that a very young child may have a reaction, but not be able to tell you and just cry or go red - as per usual at that age, so you probably don't realise it's serious until it's too late. They gradually introduce these foods later. Maybe too late, if the idea of early exposure is accurate, but it's very much a case of "can't be too safe" when I asked them.
- hilbert42 2y ago"Children with allergies used to be part of this mortality rate." Perhaps so, but I had a mother who was particularly fussy that we kids had good fresh food—I reckon she was a bit obsessed with it, yummy things like potato chips, sweets, etc. were discouraged and not a part of our normal diet—and at no time was anything ever mentioned about nuts, peanut butter, etc. being bad or 'suspect'. In fact, I was encouraged to eat nuts instead of sweets as they were considered wholesome whereas sweets were not. We always had peanut butter at home (mother encouraged it over jam). When we did have sweets it was often peanut brittle (and peanut toffee) which I and most kids loved. Moreover, my mother always thought of herself as up to date, every week she read women's magazines such as the Women's Weekly, if nut allergies were a big deal back then she would have heard of it. But there was nothing said. Likewise, I'd love to know the statistics. What I do know is that these days something has changed for the worse. If peanut allergies had been so prevalent when I was a kid then there'd have been no way that it could have been covered up so completely that no one would have been aware of it. Incidentally, it's not as if allergies were unknown back then, we occasionally heard of some unfortunate people who were allergic to shellfish, or occasionally egg, or being near cats or horses—but never peanuts or other nuts.
- verisimi 2y agoOf course, given that peanuts are legumes, banning nuts eg cashews, sesame, etc makes no sense. There would be some sense in naming peas, beans and chickpeas though, as these are legumes.
- verisimi 2y agoI wonder how frequently this could be a vaccine reaction, as peanut oil is used in many vaccines.
- mseepgood 2y agoI read "peanut gallery treatment".
- sandreas 2y agoI heard the best thing you can do as a woman to prevent allergies is to eat everything you can think of (especially food known to cause allergic reactions) during pregnancy. Is this true?
- meindnoch 2y agoI love peanuts. If I couldn't eat peanuts anymore, I would kill myself.
- supertofu 2y agoI used to be you. Then I started developing reactive arthritis from peanuts. Switched to tahini. :)
- vjk800 2y agoMy understanding is that exposure therapy is nowadays the recommended way to deal with milder allergies. My daughter was allergic to eggs and the doctors advice was to start to slowly introduce them to her diet. About half a year after starting this, she could eat eggs in food no problem. I've also personally cured my cat allergy. We adopted a cat that was supposedly of hypoallergic breed ("supposedly" because there's really no science behind it, it's just people reporting less reactions from this breed). I still got a mild allergic reaction to her initially, but after a few months, it stopped. Now, a few years later, we are still happily living with her and it seems that I've ceased being allergic to other cats also.
- danlugo92 2y agoHumans didn't evolve to eat seeds, if anything, we the ones that can tolerate them are the mutations.
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- 11235813213455 2y agoIsn't there a correlation with how much dairy products, gluten, etc.. people are consuming and may react badly with peanuts or other organic food?
- cromka 2y ago“Supervised by select paediatric hospitals, eligible babies will be given gradually increasing doses of peanut powder each day for at least two years, to reduce sensitivity.” Wouldn’t this effectively mean that some newborns would be inflamed for a prolonged period of time?
- praseodym 2y agoIn The Netherlands it is recommended to introduce peanut and egg to babies between 4 and 6 months, to reduce the chances of food allergy. More information (in Dutch): https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/nl/service/vraag-en-antwoord/kinderen-en-jongeren/wanneer-geef-ik-mijn-baby-pinda-en-ei.aspx https://www.voedingscentrum.nl/nl/service/vraag-en-antwoord/...
- hammock 2y agoWhere does the peanut and egg allergy come from? My understanding is that peanut oil and egg albumin are ingredients in many common medicines given early to infants.. is there any chance that could be contributing?
- User23 2y agoIt does make you wonder if we shouldn’t vaccinate until exposing the children to solid foods in ordinary healthy cases. The mother’s antibodies from her milk do good work. There are other commenters warning about skin exposure before dietary exposure. If that’s true then it would make sense.
- hammock 2y agoIf you say certain words you get downvoted but I’ve found people seem to keep an open mind more if you use words like “medicine” that don’t immediately challenge deeply held beliefs Interesting point about the skin exposure, I’ll go back and review those comments. Evolutionarily/practically i would think it’s tough to get oral exposure to something prior to skin exposure (it hits your mouth/hands/face before your stomach), unless the breastmilk vector you mention is critical
- munchbunny 2y agoIn short, we don’t know. Egg albumin is also interesting because the vast majority of kids outgrow it. My toddler has a peanut allergy but has already outgrown his egg albumin allergy.
- Xeyz0r 2y ago
- darth_avocado 2y agoI always think about the low incidence of peanut allergies in developing countries and wonder if the mother's diet during pregnancy has an effect on allergies in children? Has this been researched? Because instead of introducing peanuts and eggs to babies, introducing it to mothers is almost a no brainer.
- DebtDeflation 2y ago>the low incidence of peanut allergies in developing countries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis The human genome didn't evolve in a sterile environment, it evolved in an incredibly hostile environment and developed some nasty defenses as a result. If you don't expose children to pathogenic microbes at an early age to train the immune system on what to attack, it will find other things to attack. Allergies are the result. Stop the constant use of antibacterial hand gels and surface sanitizers and for bonus points get a dog.
- jagged-chisel 2y agoOnly if mom isn’t allergic.
- Workaccount2 2y agoIt most likely has to do with how bored our immune systems are. We evolved to be constantly dirty, and we live in an extremely clean society. When your immune system has a lot to fight, it doesn't worry to much about dumb shit like pollen and peanuts.
- BurningFrog 2y agoThe immune system doesn't know how to rest. It must always fight something. So if it runs out of intruders to fight, it will attack the body itself.
- colechristensen 2y agoClean vs. dirty isn't even the right way to think about it. We used to be immersed in an environment full of life, and now we live in mostly sterile environments free of life except for maybe some of the first wave colonizer specialist microorganisms. You are filled and covered with life that isn't from your own genes, and that microbiome is now mostly disconnected from the biosphere. I get some weird skin issues sometimes which are almost magically fixed if I visit a natural body of water... it's clearly an issue of my immune system interacting unfavorably with a microbiome which is out of whack.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- eskibars 2y agoOur son is very allergic to peanuts and less so to cashew, and sesame. We went through oral immunotherapy and it's been absolutely life changing. He used to need an epi pen in case of chance encounter, but now he eats 2 whole peanut m&ms every day to keep his dosage up. It's been difficult finding an allergist in Germany that's willing to accept this and move forward Obviously everyone's mileage will vary, but I'm happy to see this treatment being more widely adopted
- gobins 2y agoWow that is really good to hear. I am on immunotherapy for a different type of allergy and can't stop talking about its effectiveness. It has been life changing.
- sva_ 2y agoI did a whole immunization against dust mites and I feel like it didn't work at all. q.q I've been wondering if there's something else causing me to be allergic to them, like something I eat or so, idk. But I'll have to get tested again
- gobins 2y agoI do a skin prick test every year and make sure I update allergens. It takes about 6 months to see the results and whole treatment could take upto 3-5 years. I took a break from the treatment during covid and the allergies came back. So it is important to get monthly shots.
- pantalaimon 2y agoAs a child I was diagnosed with a dust mite allergy too, but much later found out I’m actually allergic to certain pollen and cats.
- ugh123 2y ago> It's been difficult finding an allergist in Germany that's willing to accept this and move forward What are they saying? They don't believe in oral immunotherapy?
- ggm 2y agoTreatment for adults would be nice, but I take solace from the future. At least more kids won't need to grow up with an extreme concern. Meantime grown-ups keep carrying the epipen.
- bb123 2y agoIt is not well known but this also works for adults too. I’m 28 and recently completed oral immunotherapy therapy for my extremely severe peanut allergy. I used to go anaphylactic from single milligram exposure and now I’m eating multiple peanuts a day. As an adult you have to go slower and be more careful but absolutely can be done and is life changing.
- ggm 2y agoWeblinks would be very interesting. Congratulations for getting to a safer place. This is the Australian position: https://www.allergy.org.au/hp/papers/ascia-oral-immunotherapy-for-food-allergy https://www.allergy.org.au/hp/papers/ascia-oral-immunotherap...
- grecy 2y agoWhen I worked at a wilderness summer camp I had a kid in my group that was deathly allergic to peanuts, so weeks before we had to rid the camp of them. He was about 13, and said when he was little they did that scratch allergy test on his arm and he was in a coma for six months. He carried and Epipen around but told me not to stress. If someone ate a snickers then touched a door knob, and he touched it days later he would be dead on the ground before I had the cap off the pen anyway. Cool kid, he just took it in stride.
- lupusreal 2y agoSounds like obvious bullshit. His story I mean, not yours. If his allergy were as bad as he claimed he would be a bubble boy or dead. It's not as if all of society around him could be cleansed of peanut residue as the camp supposedly was. If he went anywhere public without a bubble then by his account he'd be dead.
- elevatedastalt 2y agoThat was my thought too. I am sure his allergy was serious, but this story is entering homeopathic levels of dilution and delusion.
- grecy 2y agoHe was extremely careful not to touch much, and after meeting his parents they lived in constant terror
- thomaslord 2y agoYeah, the anxiety with serious food allergies is real. I haven't had a reaction in nearly 22 years and I don't even remember what it feels like, but religiously avoiding a dangerous food from a young age you can have some long-term mental effects. I was super responsible about it even as a young kid, but now I'm a picky eater and occasionally have a mini anxiety episode after eating new foods.
- viraptor 2y ago
- Andaith 2y agoHere's the participating hospitals: * The Royal Children's Hospital in Victoria * Perth Children's Hospital * Fiona Stanley Hospital in Western Australia * Queensland Children's Hospital * Women's and Children's Health Network in South Australia * Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick * The Children's Hospital at Westmead * John Hunter Children's Hospital * Campbelltown Hospital * Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in NSW From this article, which has a bit more info: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-31/peanut-allergy-national-immunotherapy-program/104144968 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-31/peanut-allergy-nation...
- ahstilde 2y agoImmunotherapy works. I run a company (YC w21) that wants to eliminate allergies forever. It's ancient medicine to manage symptoms with antihistamines when we can remove the root cause completely. Right now, we fix cat, dog, pet, pollen, and dust allergies. In a few years, we'll be doing nuts. Our launch HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26227807 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26227807 company: https://www.wyndly.com/ https://www.wyndly.com/ book a visit with a doc: https://www.wyndly.com/products/allergy-doctor-consult-online https://www.wyndly.com/products/allergy-doctor-consult-onlin... Or just start with an allergy test: https://www.wyndly.com/products/at-home-allergy-test https://www.wyndly.com/products/at-home-allergy-test US Only right now. If you can help us expand into your country, contact me at aakash@wyndly.com
- helloworld42024 2y agoThis is a brilliant idea. The product and system also look extremely well put together.
- snowpid 2y agoCan you show us any peer reviewed paper ?
- KennyBlanken 2y agoI tried searching pubmed but turns out there are a lot of Mana Shahs working in bio research and pharma. The big question for me is whether this is a permanent fix or if you have to keep taking their tablets (at $99-ish a month, it looks like?) Unfortunately this doesn't look to be covered by my insurance as the at-home test is not administered by a doctor.
- snowpid 2y agoMy insurance in Germany only accepts peer reviewed stuff anyway so I keep waiting.
- munchbunny 2y agoMy toddler is on oral immunotherapy for peanuts, and unless he outgrows it or chooses to stop treatment, or new research comes out, he is going to be doing oral immunotherapy for life. Fortunately, peanuts aren’t expensive. The expensive part is the trained allergist whose job is to keep up with the research, and in my case, who I suspect will be publishing interesting papers in the next few years.
- a_c 2y agoIn the book Immune by Philipp Detter, creator or YouTube channel Kurzgesagt, it was mentioned that parasite might been a link in developing allergy (or was it autoimmune disease, can’t remember exactly)
- bb123 2y agoIt is not well known but this also works for adults too. I’m 28 and recently completed oral immunotherapy therapy for my extremely severe peanut allergy. I used to go anaphylactic from single milligram exposure and now I’m eating multiple peanuts a day. As an adult you have to go slower and be more careful but absolutely can be done and is life changing.
- ljf 2y agoWonderful to hear - my son took part in a milk desensitisation, which has been really successful - but he also has a good few other food allergies. We haven't yet been able to get him onto other trials, so I was worried that if we didn't do it while he was young, we'd miss the 'window'. Brilliant to hear it still works well in adulthood - if we can get peanuts, sesame and egg under control - so that he can eat 'May Contain' food, that would be a huge change for him.
- rmccue 2y agoHow long did your therapy take to get to this point?
- bb123 2y agoAbout a year overall but I started to have meaningful protection after about 6 months. There is no one in the UK currently offering it for adults so I had to travel to a specialist clinic Atlanta a few times.
- trueismywork 2y agoThus has been the norm in Indian culture for centuries now.