Peanut allergy advice to pregnant women recommended to be changed

The Food Standards Agency has recommended to ministers that current advice to avoid peanuts during pregancy, breastfeeding and early life should be changed. It turns out that there is no evidence to support current advice that, where there is a family history of allergy, mothers should avoid peanuts during pregnancy, while breastfeeding, and not introduce peanuts into their child’s diet until the age of three.

Many allergists believe that this advice is in fact harmful, and that high exposure to peanuts in ealy life may reduce the risk of peanut allergy developing.

Nut Allergy Death from Anaphylactic Shock

The Northern Echo reports the tragic case of 32 year old Angus Myers who died from eating a curry that he was assured was nut free. Mr Myers collapsed and died from anaphylaxis after eating a takeaway curry. It is likely that despite assurances to the contrary, the curry contained peanut oil or almond oil. It is not clear whether an Epipen or other adrenaline auto-injector was administered.

Although deaths from nut or peanut allergy are extremely rare, this sad case demonstrates that they can and do happen. Dr Desa Lilic, a consultant immunologist at the University Hospital of North Durham, was quoted by the Northern Echo as advising people with nut allergy not to consume curries they have not made themselves.