Peanut Allergy | Foodfacts.com

Editor’s Note: This is an update and supplement to Friday’s post about peanut allergies and asthma

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Foodfacts.com has learned that an already existing peanut allergy amongst kids having asthma may lead to more severe asthma attacks, according to research. The findings of this study means serious concerns amongst parents whose kids are known to be suffering from peanut allergy in addition to asthma. The study was published in the Journal of Pediatrics.

The research to correlate asthma and peanut allergy was conducted on a group of 160 American children aged between 5 to 8. Using the Poisson regression model, a comparison was made between number of steroid dosage and hospital visits to arrive at the findings. The pattern was studied both in children with and without peanut allergy.

The studies showed that out of the 160 children, 46 having peanut allergies had to visit the hospitals more frequently for asthma treatment than the others. Anti-inflammatory drugs, oral corticosteroids were administered to control sever Asthma problems. When the data of oral steroids was studied, it revealed that post age 3, 28% of the kids went in for steroid treatment. This figure was 37% in kids without food allergy. On further analysis, researchers noted that peanut allergy was the leading cause.

Overall, the study showed that children with peanut allergy had 2.32 times a greater rate of hospitalization for asthma and 1.59 times greater rate of steroid usage. The study has not been able to establish the cause of these findings as to why food allergies, peanut allergy in particular is the cause of more severe asthma. “The exact link is still being studied,” lead researcher Dr. Alyson Simpson, of Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware said.

According to the statistics provided by the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy & Immunology, 1% of children in US have peanut allergy while approximately 9% have asthma. Asthmatic children with a peanut allergy need to be taken special care of to prevent serious asthma attacks.

Parents of children with both asthma and peanut allergy should be particularly sure to work with their child’s doctor to keep the asthma well-controlled. That typically means minimizing kids’ exposure to their particular asthma triggers, helping them maintain a healthy weight and, often, giving them medications that prevent asthma attacks, Dr Simpson said.

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