SchaferAutismReport: NYTimes: Are Nut Bans Promoting Hysteria?

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Subject: NYTimes: Are Nut Bans Promoting Hysteria?

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PUBLIC

HEALTH

NYTimes: Are Nut Bans Promoting Hysteria?

RESEARCH

Nicotine Addiction and Autism

Wayne State Prof's Research Pushes Autism Treatment Forward

Urinary Porphyrins Study Continues in the Puget Sound Region of

Washington State

Experts Boost Learning In Rats With Hearing Defects

Autism's Mysterious Increase

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Makeover' Family Saved From Foreclosure

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PUBLIC HEALTH

NYTimes: Are Nut Bans Promoting Hysteria?

Worries about nut allergies are intense in some circles.

By Lars Klove for The New York Times. is.gd/bUyt

Every parent of a school-age child has heard

the warnings about nut allergies. Some schools ban nuts entirely, while others

set aside special nut-free tables. Parents are often quizzed about the

ingredients and preparation methods for birthday treats they send to

school. One parent told me she was asked whether a knife used to cut

brownies had ever been used to spread peanut butter.

While nut allergies are clearly a risk to

some children, often the response to this health concern represents “a

gross overreaction to the magnitude of the threat,” argues Dr. A.

Christakis, an internal medicine doctor and professor at Harvard Medical

School, in a recent column in the British medical journal BMJ.

In the column, Dr. Christakis points out

that about 3.3 million Americans are allergic to nuts, and even more — 6.9

million — are allergic to seafood. But of 30 million hospitalizations each

year, just 2,000 are due to food allergies, and about 150 people die

annually from serious allergic food reactions. That’s the same number of

people killed by bee stings and lightning strikes combined. About 10,000

children are hospitalized annually with traumatic brain injuries from

sports, 2,000 children drown each year, and about 1,300 die in gun

accidents, he writes.

Dr. Christakis notes that while it’s

reasonable for schools and parents to take basic precautions, there is no

scientific evidence that nut bans are particularly effective at protecting

children. But more important, he argues, is that limiting widespread

exposure to nuts can make things worse. The “policy of avoidance” means

that fewer children are being exposed to nuts, likely increasing their risk

for developing an allergy. A 2008 study in The Journal of Allergy and

Clinical Immunology of 10,000 British children found that early exposure to

peanuts lowers

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Vol. 12 No.

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