Peanut Allergy Symptoms, Treatment and Peanut Allergy Causes

Peanut is one of the most consumed nuts due to its low rates, availability taste, People love to eat peanuts when they are doing gossips with their friends and family or even people love to buy peanuts when they are travelling. Peanuts are liked by Children, Adults, Males, Females even people in old age love to eat peanuts. You have read about peanuts benefits every where but is also important that we should know what is peanut allergy, Peanut allergy Symptoms, Causes and last but not least , Can you all of a sudden become allergic to peanuts? Let us read after a little introduction of its benefits.

Peanut is a groundnut. This legume is mainly grown in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Taxonomically it is called as Arachis hypogaea. However, the oil extracted from peanuts is often used in cooking due to its smoke flavor.  Peanuts however contain polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Therefore, the dietary fiber is present in high amount in these tree nuts.

Peanuts are healthy dry nuts very popular among peoples. They are a great source of vitamins, minerals and fats. Some of the researches have shown that peanuts are rich in antioxidants as many other dry fruits. Although peanuts are so much beneficial yet on the other hand they are also responsible for Peanut allergies.

Peanut Allergy Symptoms:

Peanut Allergy statistics says that about 0.6% of people in the United States are suffering from peanut allergy symptoms. Allergies due to Peanut or all other dry fruits allergies are mostly occurring in children. However, among all other allergies, peanut allergies are becoming more common every year. Therefore, the peanut allergy symptoms occur by inhalation of peanuts, cross contact or direct contact with them. However, peanut and dry nut allergies are account for 92% of mild to severe and fatal reactions.

The peanut allergy symptoms can vary from watery eyes to some anaphylactic shock. However, avoidance of peanut is therefore difficult, because of their use in cooking and packaged foods. Moreover, these types of nut allergies are associated with family history. If anyone among you suspects any kind of peanut allergy then concern your allergist for diagnosis and treatment.

Peanut Allergy Symptoms

What happens if you have an allergic reaction to peanuts?

However, food allergies are a serious cause of anaphylaxis in leading countries like Europe and United States. Tree nuts like peanuts are the majority life-threatening allergy causing agents. The function of the immune system is to protect the body against germs and diseases.  Some of the food allergens that are also present in peanuts are trying to make the GI tract to be sensitive.

Mostly the peanut allergies are IgE mediated responses. Peanut allergy is an abnormal response by the immune system to a specific protein present in this legume. When the immune system considers an invader as harmful then it releases some chemical for attack. Histamines are released in response of this attack and the symptoms like inflammation, itching and redness occur. Some other Peanut allergy symptoms occur when you have peanut allergies:

  • Swelling of the throat, lips and mouth
  • Vomiting
  • Diarrhea
  • Abdominal pain
  • Wheezing
  • Shortness of breathing
  • Repetitive coughing
  • Trouble in swallowing

Nut allergies are often fatal causing death. Therefore it is important to take precautions to keep safe the people from peanut allergy symptoms. Most of the allergic reactions to peanuts are unpredictable and sometimes very small amounts of peanuts may cause these types of symptoms. Casually a skin allergic reaction is less likely to occur but most of the children if get peanut butter on their skin may develop rash symptoms and itching. The treatment for life-threatening allergic reactions is an auto injector called epinephrine.

Can You be allergic to peanuts?

Can you all of a sudden become allergic to peanuts?

Yes, development of allergies is common in adults as well as children. These allergies take place from seasonal allergies to food allergies. There is a question occurs that can children grow out of peanut allergies? The outgrowth of peanut allergy among children is rare. Only 20% of children outgrow their allergy. It has been studied that the average age for outgrowing the peanut allergy is 5 years.

Allergic symptoms to food and dry fruits are different or it is sometimes depend upon the individuals. Sometimes the same person will react differently at different times to same type of allergen. Therefore, most of the people get sudden allergic just by breathing in the small particles of nuts and peanuts.

Peanut Allergy Causes:

However, peanut allergy is mostly occurring in children. Infants below then the age of 38 months are suffering from peanut allergies. In some cases airborne food protein can be enough to cause a reaction in tree nut allergies. However, food prepared in containers that have previously been used with nut products can cause a peanut allergy reaction. Alternative nut butter that causes other tree nuts or sometimes peanuts is also a great cause of peanut allergy.Peanut Allergy Causes

However, the allergens that are present in peanuts can be classified as Ara h 1 and Ara h 2, these allergens when comes in contact with the immune system will cause:

  • Dysfunction of immune system
  • Digestive problems
  • Respiratory problems

Moreover, anti-IgE therapy or the use of Antihistamine drugs is useful to reduce the causes of occurring peanut allergy symptoms.

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