Fewer allergic kids exposed to peanuts by mistake

By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Children with peanut allergies
may be less likely to accidentally eat peanut-containing foods
than in years past, but the problem still needs attention, a
Canadian study suggests.

In a study of 252 children with peanut allergy, researchers
found that over a year, about 14 percent accidentally ingested
peanut allergens. That’s lower than what’s been reported in
previous studies — suggesting, according to the study authors,
that preventive measures are helping.

Greater public awareness of peanut allergy, “safer
environments” — like peanut-free schools — and changes in
food manufacturing and labeling may all be helping to reduce
children’s accidental exposures, study co-author Dr. Ann Clarke
told Reuters Health.

But the 14-percent rate shows there’s still room for
improvement, according to Clarke, an associate professor of
medicine at McGill University in Montreal.

What’s more, she and her colleagues found that when
children did have moderate to severe reactions to peanuts, they
were usually not given epinephrine, a self-injected medication
that’s the treatment of choice for serious reactions. And in
more than half of these cases, parents and other caregivers
failed to seek medical attention.

“Accidental reactions tend to be treated inappropriately,”
Clarke said, adding that parents and caregivers may need better
education on managing such situations.

She and her colleagues report their results in the Journal
of Allergy & Clinical Immunology.

Peanuts are one of the most common food allergens, and
exposure to even trace amounts can trigger sometimes
life-threatening allergic reactions. Symptoms range from itchy,
red skin and hives to breathing difficulties, severe blood
pressure drops and loss of consciousness.

Avoiding peanuts can be tricky because many prepared foods
contain peanut products, while other foods come in contact with
peanut proteins during processing, which can be enough to
trigger an allergic reaction. Parents have to read labels
carefully and alert other adults in their child’s life to the
importance of peanut avoidance.

To help prevent children’s accidental exposure, many
schools have banned peanut-containing foods; most children in
the current study went to a peanut-free school.

Perhaps because of this, accidental peanut ingestion most
often happened at home or at a friend’s or relative’s house.

It’s not clear why these incidents occurred, but Clarke and
her colleagues speculate that at least some were caused by
“mislabeling” on food products or caregivers’ misreading of
labels.

Better education on peanut avoidance for parents, along
with tougher standards for food manufacturing and labeling,
might help prevent more accidental exposures, the researchers
conclude.

In the U.S., a federal law went into effect this year
requiring product labels to clearly state whether a food
contains proteins from peanuts or any of seven other major food
allergens.

SOURCE: Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology, August
2006.