There are more allergens than just peanuts

Wednesday, August 29. 2007

There are more allergens than just peanuts

There seems to be a big thing now with TV advertising promoting the fact that some manufacturers are labelling their products, always junk foods though, as "peanut free". Peanuts are not the only food allergen in the world, though to see the marketing you'd think it was.

I realise that peanut free foods are useful, but there are loads of them about anyway, like fruit, vegetables etc. And making sugary snacks peanut free for school lunch bags is not only a perceived "safety" issue. It's also a gimmick.

More and more people are having problems with wheat, it may not be an allergy, it may be as investigations in my case have pointed to, an auto-immune reaction. But I don't see adverts on the TV saying "this product has been specially created to be wheat or gluten free".

In the US it is estimated that 6 in every 1000 people have peanut allergies, and that 7.5 in every 1000 people have celiac disease. So why isn't it worth the manufacturers going big on making products wheat free. Well because the figures quoted above are for people (encompassing kids and adults). Not kids alone. The figure for peanut allergies in kids is actually estimated at 8 in every 1000 kids.

So now we see why it's attractive for manufacturers to push "peanut free" junk foods. Because they are aiming directly at the one market that is easily tempted and then that market uses all its persuasiveness to make sure that parents fall into the trap of buying those goods.

Putting that aside, the fact is that the human race wasn't designed to eat wheat, and wheat has crept into every part of 21st Century life. Even disposable plates, utensils, bags etc are being made from wheat so that they are more "environmentally" friendly. Not more people friendly though. How pleased am I going to be to eat off a plate made from wheat with a wheat derived disposable fork? About as pleased as I'm going to be coming round in A&E with a large medical bill being waved under my nose.

However there is a new greed in town, for crops that can be made into biofuels. This may (or may not for countries who rely on wheat to avoid starvation) herald a turning point in the amount of wheat that creeps into our foods.

Previously I've ranted about wheat being a cheap filler, and therefore sneaked into foods where it has no place in being, e.g. yogurt. However with the media now reporting that wheat prices are about to go through the roof because of the demand for cereal crops to create biofuels, it makes me wonder if the unnecessary wheat in our diet may be going the way of the dinosaurs...

Posted by Helen Fletton in wheat blog at 14:33 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

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Peanut allergies are entirely different from gluten intolerance. The reason being, that many if not most peanut-allergic people go into anaphylactic shock from peanut exposure. That means that a person (esp a child) who is even sitting next to somebody who opens up something containing peanuts could DIE. Whereas those of us who are Celiac / gluten intolerant will not die, or even get sick, from someone in the same room eating something with gluten in it. In addition, even accidentally ingesting gluten, as long as it only happens rarely, is awful (believe me, I know how awful it is - I get SO sick) but still will not cost me my life. That is the main difference, and why I applaud people realizing how dire peanut allergies (and other anaphylactic food allergies) are, and am perfectly fine with that being prioritized even though more people have celiac disease than peanut allergies. I think from this post that you may not have realized the difference in what people with anaphylactic allergies (peanut in particular) deal with, versus those of us with celiac disease. I know it's frustrating that there aren't enough (processed) gluten-free foods on the market but the last thing we need is to create some kind of "war of the food allergies/intolerances" where gluten intolerant people are saying their issues are more important or "why can't they just eat fruits and vegetables?" (which could just as easily said to celiacs, btw). It's not a competition. These issues are all important and all gaining recognition. The number of GF foods on the market has skyrocketed. I even heard a radio commercial for a mainstream food product mentioning it was gluten-free today. I'd take celiac disease over a deadly peanut allergy any day.

#1 Gluten-Free Bay on 2007-08-29 19:55 (Reply)

Do you have any idea how ridiculous this is? One of my friend's children has a peanut allergy, and she's only one of hundreds in her school. That school has become a 'peanut free zone' not because peanut allergy is some sexy marketing gimmick, but because SHE COULD VERY EASILY DIE if she comes in contact with it. SHE COULD DIE if the classmate beside her opens a peanut butter sandwich. Peanut allergies are extremely serious.
I have a (PROPERLY DIAGNOSED, give me a break) wheat allergy, but if someone opens a sandwich beside me I'm not going to DIE. I JUST WON'T TAKE A BITE. Jesus. Yeah, life is so rough for me. Whine whine whine. I don't care if you don't allow this to be displayed, I just want you to realize how stupid and petty you look.

#2 give your head a shake on 2007-09-25 22:16 (Reply)

Feel better now? And yes I have published it, shame you felt you had to be anonymous. The point of this blog is for people to comment on topical wheat allergy issues, we only censor swearing, blatant attempts to get advertising or dangerous issues that we won't allow to be promoted.

Back to the peanut issue. If you were up-to-date with the current news on this topic you would have read, or heard via the media, that parents are complaining in large numbers about the new 'peanut free' school rules. Especially in the US.

For some children peanut butter is their main source of protein for packed lunches. A lot of parents are not happy that these rules mean that their children are restricted to what they can take to school with them to eat.

It is a problem for children with peanut allergies. And yes I do understand that they could die from contact with peanuts in any form. However when these children go to the shopping mall do they wear a sealed bio-hazard suit to avoid touching something that may have been touched by someone who's recently eaten or handled peanuts?

Oh and by the way, although my problem with wheat has been professionally diagnosed as not an actual wheat allergy per se but something that they can't identify the cause of. I would like to point out that the last attack I had caused such damage it took 3 months for my heart/blood pressure to return to somewhere even approaching normal. And that can be set off from one speck of wheat that gets into my mouth (for example via touching something that someone who ate a sandwich handled).

I hope that you continue to enjoy the content of the website, and thank you for your honest comments.

#2.1 Helen (Homepage) on 2007-09-26 07:58 (Reply)

At least you dont have BOTH a wheat allergy and a peanut allergy.

This is my list:
Wheat
Peanuts and other nuts
Eggs
Bananas
Cat dander
Mold
Trees
Dust

#3 Anonymous on 2008-04-24 23:00 (Reply)

There are more .. definitely more allergens than mere peanuts.. also, the ingredients label would tell us what and all it contains.."peanut free" is just a marketing gimmick.. I agree with you.

Strauss.

#4 Allergic Reactions on 2008-12-19 21:59 (Reply)

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