All About Peanut Butter Allergy

Among food allergies, peanut allergy is the most deadly – affecting several people and sending them to emergency rooms each year. Moreover, all the kids who love peanut butter at great risk due to peanut allergy. Just touching the peanut butter can trigger an allergic reaction. But the good news is that through proper vigilance and prevention, kids can be safe from peanut butter allergy.

Parents should remember that although it is possible to prevent peanut butter allergy through vigilance, there are chances that kids may come into contact with it. Hence, they should always carry an injectable epinephrine, which can be used to stop a severe allergic reaction.

What Causes Peanut Butter Allergy?
Peanut butter is made by roasting peanuts and mixing them vegetable oil to form a paste. Peanuts which are used in this product are the reason behind peanut butter allergies.

Peanut Butter Allergy is caused when the immune system wrongly perceives the protein present in peanut as harmful to the body and fights against it. It releases histamine to fight against the protein, which triggers a number of allergic symptoms .

Symptoms of Peanut Butter Allergy:
Kids are most vulnerable to peanut butter allergy. Initially the symptoms may show up as skin rash, runny nose, water eyes etc. Gradually the allergic symptoms may become severe — such   as diarrhea, abdominal cramps, vomiting, difficulty breathing.

In some cases, the above symptoms can progress to a severe form of allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis. The symptoms of anaphylaxis are swollen throat, breathing difficulty, dizziness, low blood pressure. An anaphylaxis can also result in death if it is not stopped.

Anaphylaxis can be stopped by administering an ephinephrine injection. Once, a person goes into anaphylaxis he/she should be immediately given epinephrine and should be sent to emergency room.

How Parents Can Avoid Peanut Butter Allergy In Kids?
Certain kids are at high risk of peanut butter allergy. They are:

• Kids having family members with allergies
• Kids having other food allergies
• Kids having hay fever and other allergies

Such kids should avoid consumption of peanuts until the age of 3- this may prevent peanut and peanut butter allergies. To reduce the risk of peanut allergy in kids, mothers should feed the baby with breastmilk 12 months of age and they should avoid peanuts when pregnant and while breastfeeding

Prevent Peanut Butter Allergy:
To prevent peanut butter allergy, avoidance of all forms of peanut butter is the only way. Here are a few tips:

• Peanut butter should be strictly avoided, even touching it can trigger allergies
• Using of the same knife, utensils which are used for serving peanut butter can trigger allergies and should be avoided
• Be careful of cross-contamination i.e. the mix up of peanut butter while cooking or handling food
• Kids should be asked not to share lunch boxes in order to avoid peanut allergy

Once peanut butter allergy is detected, the symptoms can be controlled by epinephrine. Hence, people having peanut allergy, especially kids, should always carry a self-injectable epinephrine always.

Peanut butter allergy reaction can be treated by using anti-histamines. One can get tested for peanut allergies using a blood test or a skin test.