Peanut Allergies

My 9-year-old daughter has a peanut allergy. It was discovered when she was 3 years old and had her first bite of peanut butter. When the hives appeared around her mouth my stomach sank. I knew that this was a life altering experience for my daughter and for our family. Over the course of the past 9 years, I’ve learned as much as I can about peanut allergies and promising research into the desensitization of peanut allergies, but there are always new developments.

Most people know of someone who suffers from a food/peanut allergy. It’s a topic that touches many lives and that is why I’ve chosen it for my research project. After reading my paper, I’d like you to come away with information you didn’t know about peanut allergies and the research into possible cures. My working research question is: What are peanut allergies and is there hope for a cure?

1. Young, M.C. Peanut Allergy Answer Book. 2nd ed. Fair Winds Press, 2006.

This is the peanut allergy bible and it covers every topic from Food Allergies in a Nutshell to Peanut Allergies 101. I’ve read different portions of this book over the past 9 years, depending on which topic pertained to the current situation, and they were all very informative. The author is a pediatric allergist who graduated from Harvard University and Yale Medical School. Even though this edition is from 2006, the information is still valid and a research project would not be complete without it.

2.Clark, A.T., Islam, S., King, Y., Deighton, J., Anagnostou, K.,Ewan,P.W.
Successful oral tolerance induction in severe peanut allergy.Abstract.
Allergy.64(2009): 1218–1220. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1398-9995.2009.01982.x/abstract.

The goal of the study this abstract describes was to find out if peanut oral immunotherapy (OTI) would induce a greater tolerance to peanut protein. Background information on peanut allergy, methods, and results of the study were shared. The study demonstrated that tolerance to peanuts could be increased using oral immunotherapy. This is good research material for a project. The study was done in the UK.


3. The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. (n.d.). Tips for Managing a Peanut
Allergy.www.foodallergy.org/allergens/peanut.html.

FAAN is a website which is an invaluable resource for those with food allergies. It provides information on the common food allergens and a host of other topics. The article I cited provides a list of items that may contain peanut and what kinds of restaurants to avoid. Again, this is a reliable source for introductory information regarding peanut allergies.