In America, nut allergy, specifically peanut allergy, kills about 100 people every year. About one in 100 people has peanut allegy. Doctors these days have a new piece of advice to help people in the matter though. Doctors now ask that nursing mothers and also small children, stay away from peanuts. Actually, this happens to be a rather dangerous interpretation of what the scentists find. Early exposure to peanuts through mother's milk or through your diet when you're really young, generally helps you become more tolerant.
So if your child already has nut allergy, is there something you can do about it? That's what two new research studies are saying, and it's been all over the news too. What they say is, that it is possible to raise a child's tolerance, by feeding him tiny portions of nuts, and then raising that amount over time - over about five years.
This kind of resistance building isn't ever going to completely cure your child of nut allergy. It isn't even going to cure him a little bit. It will however build up his tolerance for the rare occasion in his life that he'll eat nuts by mistake. And then, the reaction he will suffer won't be nearly as serious as it might have been. They've actually tried it on dozens of children; and they do see that tolerance gets built up. But it's important to not try this at home just yet. Not every kind of child responds the same way. If you are looking for an actual cure for nut allergies though, there is some hope.
They call it immunotherapy; and they hope that one day, the technique will be advanced enough that it will actually work for everyone. Until they really get work done on these techniques though, you need to make your house nut-free. For your child's sake. If nuts are allowed in the house for the family members who don't have the allergy, you need to make sure that the nuts are completely separated from anything that might come into contact with an allergic child. Peanut allergy is one of the most widespread allergies on earth. The smallest amount of contamination can really make a child break out. Remember, a child has a smaller body, and will react to very small amounts. The kind of thing you need to think about is, to not use the same knife to smear on peanut butter that is used in cooking that a child will eat. You must make sure not to use a toaster for nut bread that the child might use for his bread.
If your child has a nut allergy, cut out every kind of processed food in the house. There is no telling when there might be a little peanut oil in something. If you go out to eat, make sure you pick a restaurant that is completely cooperative with your nut allergy requests. If after all this trouble, your child does get an episode or two of nut allergy, make absolutely sure that you carry epinephrine in your pocket at all times of the day and night. If there is an anaphylaxis episode, you need to have the answer to it right in your back pocket.
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