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MeanTelevision@reddit

Vegetarian. Sorry that happened to you.

I have had the same happen, or, beef or chicken broth is a big thing a lot of places leave off the description.

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Sweet_One_2004@reddit

That would infuriate me considering I’m a Pesco vegetarian and I take it very seriously. My husband would be like, oh pull out the bacon not realizing that the food has now been contaminated and I can’t eat it. Did you leave them a bad yelp review?

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sweet_crab@reddit

I have a suspicion I intended to and then didn't. :/ But I probably should've.

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Ms-Metal@reddit

I'd be pissed too and I'm not Jewish lol. It's something that would upset muslims, jews and vegetarians. Acorn squash and butternut squash dishes are very common for vegetarian meals so it's really shitty that they would not list bacon, not just based on religion. It just makes no sense.

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fairelf@reddit

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jmarkham81@reddit

I hope you left them a scathing review

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TrenchcoatFullaDogs@reddit

So, as a server who definitely does care about allergies...in my experience, from a liability perspective it's often very difficult to discern where cross-contamination might be present. I've worked at places that get desserts from a local bakery, and the safest thing we can say is "look, the ingredients list they gave us doesn't have any peanuts/tree nuts in it, and we certainly don't add any, but we have no way of knowing what other products are being made in that same bakery and what cross-contamination may have occurred. If it's a serious allergy, I'm not comfortable telling you that this is safe for you to eat."

I've also worked in places that make all of the desserts in house from scratch, but the answer is still fairly similar. We don't have nuts in the house and we don't use them in any dish, but we don't mill our own flour so we cannot 100% speak to any allergens that may have come into contact with the flour in the processing plant in fucking Italy.

I get that it can be annoying when staff act like they don't know things or won't give you a straight answer. Just saying that for a lot of us it's out of an abundance of caution (and an understanding of how severe a reaction can be from a small amount of an allergen) that we say things like "I can't confirm that this is free of concerns for you, given your allergy." 90% sure is not 100% sure, and if you operate a kitchen with just 90% certainty about allergens you're eventually going to either kill someone or get your ass sued. Or both.

Source: 17 years in restaurants

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maximumhippo@reddit

I appreciate it and I respect it but I'm not talking about the trace amounts from being handled near tree nuts. I've had more than enough meals ruined because the dessert has walnut pieces or almond pieces in it that aren't listed or mentioned. This isn't limited to local restaurants either. It's happened with national chains as well.

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badtux99@reddit

Unfortunately often desserts are bought wholesale from Sysco and just plated by the restaurant, and they don't know what the actual ingredients are, they just picked something off the Sysco web site in the 'desserts' category to put on their menu because people insist on having dessert. Note that restaurants *hate* dessert, they want to turn over that table and get another paying customer into it (and the waitress wants another paying customer to tip her!), dessert slows down the pace enough that they lose money compared to having someone eating a full meal in that seat. As a result you will almost never find an actual dessert that was made by the restaurant. They literally don't care about the quality of the dessert as long as it's not *total* garbage, if a lower-quality dessert means you won't order dessert next time, they'll be happy.

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SillyKniggit@reddit

The presence of cheese is relevant to their sales and to people wanting to order.

It's lumped in because peanuts have a lot of cross reactivity to tree nuts, even though peanuts are legumes.

It would have been a guess and pseudoscientific at best but out o the several hundreds of people I've met in my life I'd have estimated it to be about 1 in a hundred.

Young Americans do.

Pediatricians decided that young children should avoid peanuts, so they never built tolerance to them and developed allergies.

Now pediatricians are realizing that they basically created all these allergies, and are encouraging parents to expose their kids to peanuts early. My pediatrician told me I can let my baby try peanut butter as soon as he’s old enough to safely swallow it.

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RoRoRoYourGoat@reddit

I read that in countries where common baby and toddler snacks are made with peanuts, the allergy rate is very low. They think it's related to early exposure.

But that's not a complete cure... Some peanut allergies are just genetic and not related to what you feed the kid.

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ThePolemicist@reddit

Yes, you're referring to the research they did on the incident of allergies comparing Jewish kids in Israel who ate Bamba snacks as little ones, compared to the Jewish kids in England who didn't. I can't remember the numbers anymore, but it was something like the allergy rates among the kids in England was like 5x higher than the kids in Israel.

There was a news story several years ago of a mom who was suing a restaurant after her son died from an allergic reaction to dairy. The server had told her that the pancakes were milk free, so she let her teenaged son order them. They were not milk free.

Her son went into anaphylaxis, but he'd left his epipen at home. Instead of rushing her son to the ER, she rushed him home to get his epipen. Poor kid didn't make it. I sympathize with mom over the loss of her child, and the restaurant for sure bears partial responsibility, but I can't help but wonder.

Why the fuck did the kid not have his epipen?

Why did mom take him home instead of the nearest hospital?

Elixabef@reddit

Sadly, I’ve heard of at least a few instances of kids ending up hospitalized due to anaphylactic shock because of grandparents who didn’t believe the peanut allergy was real. It’s wild, to say the least.

I’m so glad that your brother pulled through. I’m sorry to hear about your coworker, though; it really is frightening how fast these things can happen.

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Ok-Entertainment5045@reddit

Similar experience about a year ago. We had a bake sale to raise money for someone with cancer. Newer kid on the floor ate a cookie with nuts without checking. Paramedics couldn’t get an airway and he didn’t make it.

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dlobnieRnaD@reddit

Really sad. Also in Michigan, my brother got reached by the Livingston County Sheriff who carried an epi pen just in time. They have a huge range but just happened to be getting coffee at a fire station less than a mile away when the fall came in or else I would have lost my baby brother.

I’m in Southern California where lots of American media comes from. We have a large Asian population compared to most of the US and they are more likely to have peanut allergies than other groups so that may play some role in its over representation in American media.

Interesting comment. I've never in my 70 years have a seen that as a plot device.

I'm curious: Can you name any movies where that was the case?

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Sudden_Outcome_9503@reddit

Da Vinci Code ( the book at least). The show The Boys.

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S1E1 of American Horror Story, I think. Girl kisses her bf with a peanut allergy and he dies.

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PeachyFairyDragon@reddit

That may be based on the Kiss of Death. Girl died shortly after kissing her boyfriend who had eaten some peanut butter. People blamed the innocent peanut when an autopsy showed the cause of death was an unrelated poorly timed asthma attack.

AlternativeBeat3589@reddit

Seems to have picked up in the 90s.

Could come up with a bunch but relatively few that someone 70 has likely seen.

Simpsons…sleepless in Seattle…big bang theory…the night caller…I’m sure others could be found easily enough. That’s just off the top of my head.

Sometimes as a reference, sometimes as a crucial plot point.

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stitchingdeb@reddit

"but relatively few that someone 70 has likely seen."

What happened was the health industry decided the solution to kids having peanut allergies was to avoid introducing peanuts until the child was a toddler. What that did over the past few decades was increase the number of kids with peanut allergies.

Now the prevailing recommendation is to start introducing small wuantitied to babies when pregnant and when breast feeding.

So, we have a few decades worth of people who had an increased risk of getting peanut allergies due to avoidance of peanuts.

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NovelWord1982@reddit

I don’t personally know any adults with peanut allergies, but one who has a tree nut allergy (much less scary, but still bad).

I grew up being so allergic to peanuts that I once had to go to the ER. My niece is the same.

I outgrew it and have no reaction at all to it anymore, hope my niece is the same.

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stefiscool@reddit

The question has already been answered but I am not one to miss an opportunity to point out that I’m allergic to lettuce, spinach, and blue cheese so a salad could literally kill me

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IReadAndIKnowNothing@reddit

It’s mostly a plot device but there is a bit of truth to it I guess. It’s more common in America than some other countries because of our way of introducing allergens. For a long time it was recommended to introduce them later and slowly one at a time. And that’s still what a lot of people go by. This can actually increase the incidence of allergies. While early introduction between 4-9 months of age can decrease the chance of developing allergies. In countries where popular early baby snacks have peanuts or peanut butter you see less peanut allergies. There are some interesting studies on it. I did a lot of research when I had my first kid ready to do solids so she got introduced to everything within the space of about a month. I just introduced them one at a time adding a new one every few days.

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YerbaPanda@reddit

Movies, FOX News, CNN, most television, TikTok and politicians are the worst sources of information about US culture. Just come over and visit; turn off your devices while you’re here. Hang out with us for a while, visit the beach, take a day hike in the mountains, stay for dinner.

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Carrotcake1988@reddit

Kids with allergies are a well known issue.

But, I developed my peanut allergy post menopausal.

It’s kind of weird phenomenon related to menopause that you never really about. New or worsening allergies or intolerances can be one of the side effects of menopause.

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NorraVavare@reddit

Its common enough that we are taught not to feed peanuts to children under 2 years old. It is my understanding that bananas are the European equivalent of peanuts in terms of allergies. I forget where I read that, but if true might help for reference? Depending on where you are?

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bryku@reddit

I seen a metric that said around 1% of Americans ha e a peanut allergy. Keep in mind this was a decade ago, so it may be outdated.

Curt_Uncles@reddit

I don’t have an answer to the peanut part of this question, but I took a screenwriting class in college and the professor mentioned that allergic reactions are an overused plot device in media because writers often want a dangerous and scary sudden accident that threatens one of the characters, but don’t want any blood or violence.

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Yeah we just shoveled pretty much anything into our kid’s maws and it worked out fine.

My cousin had some kind of reaction to wheat and dairy as a young kid. He has no issue now.

I feel like it’s just a test and consult with your peds doctor situation.

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LoverlyRails@reddit

I have a young adult and a high school aged child. I was given that advice as medical instruction when my kids were born. (No peanuts or any of the major allergies while I was pregnant, breastfeeding, or for my kids until after age 3).

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dontlookback76@reddit

We have two 23 year olds and a 16 year old. We were told to delay nuts and I think strawberries. Been so long I can't remember all we were told, but going sentiment then was to delay certain foods.

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gonyere@reddit

I know my brother and his wife introduced peanuts, at like 2-3+ in the parking lot of the er...

Not all schools do this. My kids have never gone to a school where peanut products are banned.

Theirs school district provides free breakfast and free lunch to all students. My daughter stopped eating meat this year (she was in 7th grade this past year), and the school always provided Uncrustables as an option to kids who won't/can't eat the hot lunch. She eats an Uncrustable a couple of times a week at school.

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Suppafly@reddit

and the school always provided Uncrustables as an option to kids who won't/can't eat the hot lunch

yagirlsamess@reddit

I had a friend in college who was so allergic to peanut butter that me walking into her room with a sandwich started her symptoms from 10 ft away. She wasn't even looking at me to know that I was holding a sandwich.

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I was allergic to peanuts for most of my life. It wasn't fatal, but I'd break out into a rash/swelling. Still, I avoided them as much as I could. For some reason, 3 years ago I stopped being allergic to peanuts and now eat them (I believe it was related to curing/tempering my severe eczema through nutrition).

Peanut allergy is more complex than that. There are people with mild or moderate peanut allergies, like what I had (Exposure or ingestion of peanuts would cause a reaction, but not death) and severe forms, which are fatal. There are those who are allergic to only peanuts, but not other nuts, and those who are allergic to all nuts (usually tree nuts). I was only allergic to peanuts and could eat other nuts without any issues (For the longest time I used almonds as a peanut substitute).

The majority of people with peanut allergies are not the severe kind, but at the same time, no one wants to be liable for someone's death. Especially in a country where people sue each other all the time.

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meanyapickles@reddit

It's not super common, in general among the population, but I think it's one of the more common food allergies. I had a friend in high school who was so allergic to peanuts that if they breathed close enough to one their airways could start swelling.

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guitars_and_trains@reddit

I'm almost 40 I've never met anyone with a peanut allergy

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More_Temperature2078@reddit

It's common enough. We all had that one kid in class who prevented everyone from having peanuts because he might die if it got too close to him.

My office has signs up reminding everyone not to bring peanuts in for similar reasons. It's just one guy out of maybe a hundred that uses the office but that's enough.

I've only known 3 people with an allergy to it-a classmate my age and 2 different cousins with nut allergies, so it's not all that common. The most common allergy in my family is to lanolin (it's typically called a wool allergy, as it's a natural oil found in sheep's wool, so if someone tells you they have an allergy to sheep's wool, 9/10, they're likely allergic to lanolin).

The flip side of that, at least for me, is that the nut allergy gets publicized and is better known because it's a food allergy while most folks I know of who know of lanolin allergies are folks who knit/crochet/tat or make soap and sell their stuff at craft shows-I have a friend who refuses to make stuff out of sheep's wool for craft shows because of all the folks with a lanolin allergy out there; it's easier on her to use cotton and acrylic yarns. For herself? Sure, but never to sell.

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tofurainbowgarden@reddit

I know a lot of people but I know only 1 40+ year old man allergic to nuts. Hes British though

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No_Towel_8109@reddit

Peanut butter is a very popular American food. It was actually invented as a way to provide a cheap source of protein for low-income families.

The thing about peanuts is they have three different types of protein. Which means there are three different potential allergens in one food.

In order to have an allergic reaction you have to be exposed to the allergen once before the reaction takes place. During that exposure your body will designate some protein in the item as being an infectious agent and then overreact like crazy.

Because peanut butter and peanuts in general are so commonly eaten here there's way more exposure which means there's way more opportunity to form an allergy to peanuts. But in addition to that peanuts have more potential allergens in them than most other foods.

So while it isn't super common as far as percentage(I wanna say 2%), it is the single most common source of allergies in the United States.

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civodar@reddit

Not an American, but Canadian and peanut allergies are just as common here. I went down the rabbit hole reading about food allergies throughout the world and why peanut allergies are so common so I might be able to shed some light on why you’ve never met anyone with one!

Right now about 2-3% of children have peanut allergies, in 1997 only 0.6% of children had peanut allergies, and before that it was practically unheard of. Why did peanut allergies become more common? Some theories that have a lot of steam behind them is children are increasingly growing up in more and more sterile environments which causes their immune system to not develop the way it ought to and also for a while there doctors were suggesting kids not be given peanuts in case they had an allergy, but new research shows that children who are introduced to peanuts at a young age are much less likely to develop an allergy so in 2017 they switched gears and started recommending that babies be introduced to peanuts as early as possible. There are countries where babies are fed peanut based snacks early on and the incidence of peanut allergies in those countries is almost 0, I believe Israel is one that is commonly cited.

Something interesting is that different allergies are common in different places, while peanut allergies are common in Canada, Australia, and America, they are almost unheard of in most of the world. Sesame is the most common allergy in Israel and parts of Europe, apple and kiwi allergies are common in Central America, and soybean is common in China. Also allergy rates vary hugely between countries with 8% of people in China living with food allergies compared to about 3% in Italy. Australia and Canada have some of the highest rates in the world though and America is close behind.

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pupperoni42@reddit

Most of us know one or two people with the allergy. The problem is that peanuts are oily so the residue gets left behind and someone can die from simply touching the same table someone else touched earlier after eating a peanut butter sandwich. So it's a difficult one to stay totally safe from, and makes a good TV plot.

We may have higher rates of peanut allergies in the US for a few reasons:

We eat lots of peanuts. Peanut butter sandwiches are a staple of childhood, and Trailmix with peanuts is a common snack.
We tend to be too obsessed with cleanliness, particularly with infants. As a result, their immune systems don't have real opponents to fight, so they decide to fight random proteins like peanuts, cat dander, etc. Kids who go to daycare (and catch all the viruses as a result), or grow up with farm animals for example have dramatically lower rates of allergies.

I learned that second point between my first and second child, and only my first has allergies.

Both went to daycare, but my second started a little earlier, and I backed off on the cleaning factor a lot. If her pacifier fell on the floor I'd pick off the big hairs, and maybe give it a quick rinse if we were home then give it back to her. With my first, it would have gone in the dirty pile to be boiled before being used again.

With my first I washed his hands and fed him in his clean high chair. I let my second play with the cat while eating on the floor.

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Honeycrispcombe@reddit

If it makes you feel better, I grew up on a ranch, with parents who were into the 3-second rule, and I have all the allegies. Sometimes you just get bad genetics.

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acertaingestault@reddit

go to daycare (and catch all the viruses as a result)

Viruses weaken the immune system, sometimes for months or even permanently, eg long COVID. Bacteria exposure strengthens the immune system, eg having dogs in the house or living on a farm.

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Ozone220@reddit

I know two people with peanut allergies pretty well, and I think most people have at least known someone with such an allergy in the US, though someone might prove me wrong in a comment

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Mental_Freedom_1648@reddit

I have one, but it's not severe. My tongue and mouth go numb if I eat nuts, but I've never stopped breathing or anything. Allergies can worsen with exposure so I don't risk it, but as an adult, I also don't go around mentioning the allergy unless it's relevant.

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Honeycrispcombe@reddit

Yeah I have a mild peanut allergy and thankfully am not sensitive to cross-contamination. I could probably eat at a least a few peanuts before having a reaction.

That being said, anyone's allergy can get worse suddenly or with age.

We're also seeing more people dealing with Mast Cell Activation Disorder, where they start having anaphylaxis to things they have never had issues before as a side effect of Covid Long Haul Syndrome. So the number of peanut reactive people may go up.

All this to say, peanut allergies are common enough most people have heard of them, and peanuts come up in enough Ameran foods (Peanut Butter Sandwiches, things fried in Peanut Oil, Peanuts in Cookies and Candies, Asian Foods that have Peanuts as Garnish, Trail Mix, etc) that it's an easy one to use in a film/TV script on a way that, say, latex allergy or shellfish allergy isn't.

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DefinitionRound538@reddit

I've known less than 5 people with any type of nut allergies in my entire 50 years of life.

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Assika126@reddit

I work at a university and severe peanut allergy is common enough that I have to make sure none of our catered events serve peanuts because we’ve had a few times where someone had such a severe allergy that they couldn’t even enter a room where peanuts were served. It’s not exactly common so much as it is potentially severe.

That being said, the reason it’s more common here than elsewhere is that for a long time pediatrician’s recommended people not serve kids peanuts until after age 4 or 5, not realizing that that made it more likely that they would develop a severe allergy because their bodies hadn’t been exposed to them and didn’t know how to respond. They don’t do that anymore so the incidence of severe peanut allergies is going back down in the younger generations.

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ChillyGator@reddit

Americans have a lot of life threatening allergies. Food and bees get a lot of attention because they’re in the movies but cats cause the most airway obstruction.

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My son has a severe peanut allergy. He was hospitalized when he was 8.

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SociallyInept420@reddit

I’m 28. Have never run into anyone with an actual peanut allergy. Went to public school, uni, worked plenty of places, and it’s never been an issue when bringing in food

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Clear-Journalist3095@reddit

I have known two people with a peanut allergy. One very serious indeed, and one that could be fixed with an EpiPen.

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No_Description2301@reddit

When I was growing up I came across exactly zero kids that had this issue. I didn’t even know it was a thing until I was around 40 years old.

IMHO it is rare but understand that if someone does have this issue it can be fatal so it does need to be taken seriously. Just like gluten allergies (celiac disease) I just don’t think it’s as prevalent as it is made out to be though.

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LoriReneeFye@reddit

I have a cousin with a peanut allergy. She can't even fly on aircraft where "peanut dust" might be in the air due to snacks that are processed in plants where peanuts are present. Severe anaphylactic shock.

That cousin is 38 years old, and she has been dealing with this allergy for since she was in elementary school.

That doesn't make it "common" but peanut allergies definitely exist. I'm not sure if they're more prevalent in the USA compared with other countries, but yeah, they're a thing.

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Greenhouse774@reddit

I work with a man who is an internationally renowned allergist and immunologist. Trained under Fauci. Sees patients and does allergy research at a major university.

"Although allergies to peanut legumes affect less than two percent (1.8%) of the United States population (1), it is not an inconsequential public health concern. For persons allergic to the legume, its ingestion triggers harmful immune responses. The most severe response, anaphylaxis, can cause symptoms of swelling, hives, throat tightening, breathing difficulties, lowered blood pressure, and shock. An estimated 40% of children with a food-related allergy have experienced at least one anaphylactic event (2). Estimates are that about 13 people die from peanut-related anaphylaxis each year (3). For those living with peanut allergies their health-related quality of life (HRQoL) i.e., their ability to live fulfilling lives is impacted. When compared with the population without peanut allergies there are more emergency room (ER) visits, greater levels of anxiety among caregivers as well as career and work disruptions. Among children with peanut allergies one half have had one or more lifetime emergency room visits, and one in five have had an ER visit in the past 12 months (4). For both children and adults with peanut allergies the experience presents considerable levels of stress, anxiety, and uncertainty. About four out of five adolescents anticipated and feared negative events and this affected their emotional well-being “somewhat.” For their overall quality of life, 26.5% of adolescents, 31.4% of adult patients, and 34.3% of caregivers indicated the peanut allergy's intrusion to be “very much” or “completely.” About five percent of caregivers reported quitting a job because of their child's condition, 2.5% had to change jobs, and 1.9% lost their jobs (5, 6). The prevalence of peanut allergies has increased in the last two decades. With most prior studies focused on the experience of children, recent research that delineates adult-onset peanut allergies is welcome, however, the non-medical data collected are unlikely to increase our understanding of its etiology, inform evidence-based public health interventions, or redress health inequities."

Cases of peanut and nut allergies peaked in the early 2000s. They have been declining again for the last 15 years.

I can write quite a bit on the topic, but the TLDR is basically this: In the mid-90s, they started telling parents to delay giving kids peanut products until age 3. This caused a huge spike in allergies. They no longer give this recommendation to most parents, and allergy rates quickly declined again.

In addition to this, there are also oral immunotherapy treatments for people with severe peanut allergies that have been extremely successful. I live in a state that has had one of the first programs like this, and it's been around for about 20 years here. Most kids with peanut allergies go through the program in kindergarten and then no longer have to worry about peanut exposure. I've taught literally thousands of children in the last 7 years and have had only 1 child with a peanut allergy.

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KaBar42@reddit

My nephew had a peanut allergy so severe that they couldn't fly on planes with him due to concerns over peanut exposure and being able to reach a hospital in time.

Which was slightly problematic because his dad was an NCO in the Marine Corps.

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gum43@reddit

We won’t travel anywhere super rural because of this. We do fly, but it makes me nervous.

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KaBar42@reddit

My nephew went through exposure therapy and, from my understanding, is now living a normal life.

kalelopaka@reddit

I don’t know anyone personally who has a peanut allergy. None of my children, siblings, nieces, nephews or grandchildren have a peanut allergy either.

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Jumpy-Dig5503@reddit

It’s definitely not just movies. It’s gotten so bad that airlines don’t even offer those little bags of peanuts (although that might just be an excuse to be cheap). Schools will expel students who pack peanuts in their lunch.

Kali-of-Amino@reddit

It's a problem based on how immunities are formed. If you're exposed to potential allergens as a toddler, you tend to develop an immunity to them. If not, you can develop a potentially life-threatening allergy when you're exposed to it later in life

Most American children grow up on peanut butter, but some don't, and a few of those will go on to develop a peanut allergy.

Before anyone asks, that info comes from a molecular biologist.

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vwisp@reddit

I went to school with a girl we had one, it was severe and when a classmate ate something with peanut right before class she had a reaction and had to leave

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well_this_is_dumb@reddit

I think the problem is that peanut allergies have the chance to be extremely severe, and peanuts/peanut butter are a staple in many places, so when one person has a severe peanut allergy it's a big deal for anyone around them, leading to schools banning peanuts, etc.

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theeggplant42@reddit

It is objectively more common in the US but it's not as prevalent as media would have you believe. It's still a small fraction of the population. I've never met anyone with a severe peanut allergy or seen someone have a reaction.

It's a good trope for TV/movies because it is a particularly serious allergy that has a lot of plausible ways for it to accidentally happen, and it's also top of mind a because we use a lot of CYA warnings for all sorts of things due to lawsuit culture and peanuts are prevalent in a lot of our food/food culture.

Compare bees, which are also a big trope, but you don't see warnings for bees everywhere because they live outside and it'd be difficult to sue anyone if you got stung by one.

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mustbethedragon@reddit

I know of one person with a deadly peanut allergy and a few with milder reactions. The one with the deadly one has to consider her every move. We were friends with her parents, and before going to their home, we made sure not to use peanut products that day. She nearly died at school once after mistakenly handling something with peanuts in it. Spent a few days in the hospital.

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Ok_Researcher_9796@reddit

I don't know if I've ever met a single person with a severe peanut allergy..

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metallee98@reddit

I think i knew a couple people in school who had peanut allergies. They wouldn't like, die or anything but would get sick if they had them. It wasn't a big deal at all.

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Stunning-Adagio2187@reddit

Airlines used to serve peanuts I never saw a peanut allergy on any airline I was flying, however it must have happened once somewhere and the allergy person sued so we must all stop eating peanuts because of that one person.

As someone said, Americans love to sue, unfortunately the deadbeat lawyers will take the case to court and harass the hell out of the company or the defendant until they pony up because it's cheaper to pay than it is to pay lawyers to fight and get a good judgment.

The judicial system in America is broken

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Astute_Primate@reddit

I would hope not. Peanut butter is my favorite food. If I developed a late in life peanut allergy I'd find a place with a nice view and go head to toe on a whole jar of Skippy Super Chunky with a spoon. I don't want to live in a world without it.

In all seriousness though, I think there are so many foods in the US that have some sort of nut related ingredient in them that a nut allergy, while uncommon, is a believable way that an American could unwittingly find themselves in mortal danger, so screenwriters use nut allergies as an easy way to raise the stakes in their scripts

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Joel_feila@reddit

it did have a strange increase in how many people had for a while.

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boodyclap@reddit

My brother is deadly allergic to peanuts so I know it's not like a made up thing

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CasablumpkinDilemma@reddit

I've known about 3 people with it. It's not a large percentage, but we have a large population so even a small percentage of us adds up to a lot of people, especially in cities.

It's not just peanuts though. I have one friend who is highly allergic to nuts, strawberries, and fish, to the point where even touching one of those things starts a reaction.

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edwbuck@reddit

It's not that so many people have peanut allergies, it's what happens when you have one person with a peanut allergy.

With poison ivy, you touch it. It hurts, you can easily get a person to treatment (if it even requires treatment) and it is not really much of an emergency, even if it is a bit scary.

With a peanut allergy, it's a matter of minutes to seconds before the airways close and they die. I know people that carry around Epi-pens just in case on their belt. I know people that have enough fear (from prior incidents) that they only eat at specific restaurants that (to their credit) specifically clean grills or have dedicated grills to avoid allergic reactions.

As for how it's portrayed in the media, it's overblown. I probably know about 2000 people. Only two of them mentioned peanut allergies, and even if many of the people I know have one and didn't bother to tell me, I'd imagine that it is well below the 1 in 50 range.

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Head-Impress1818@reddit

It’s rare but it happens

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Profleroy@reddit

It's not a common thing.

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SordoCrabs@reddit

I expect it comes up so much in American media because of how common peanuts/peanut butter are in snack foods here. I have known one person that I can think of that was allergic to peanuts, but it required consumption to be triggered. His roommate thought it was hilarious to sneak a (hopefully wrapped) Reese's peanut butter cup in/near his food.

When broad peanut allergy concerns emerged, parents started avoiding foods with peanuts in them, introducing them to their kids much later than they would have normally. Which I have read (but do not know to be 100% true) actually exacerbated the issue and made the kids more likely to develop a peanut allergy.

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473713@reddit

Peanut allergies only became a thing in the last few decades. I grew up in the 50s and 60s when people put peanut butter on everything.

A few people sneezed during pollen season but that was about it. Allergies were oddities and more of an annoyance than a medical issue.

I never heard of the peanut allergy thing until maybe the late 90s. At first I thought people were making it up to create drama and get attention.

I’ve never personally met anyone who had a peanut allergy. I’m sure they’re out there, but it’s not every other kid.

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commandrix@reddit

I'd say food allergies are common enough that most of us have known someone with an allergy at some point in our lives if we don't have an allergy ourselves. Peanut is one of the more common ones. (I knew someone who was allergic to wheat, and it was mostly just that she had to be careful about what she ordered when she ate at a restaurant.)

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GoodbyeForeverDavid@reddit

it does seem to be an epidemic.

AND it is hard to believe all of those cases are real. but i guess you just have to believe someone when they say they are allergic

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Sanpaku@reddit

The hygiene hypothesis is that we humans learn which xenobiotic compounds to tolerate through early life exposure. An increasingly hygienic environment has lead to more allergies.

Before age 5, I played outdoors, ate literal mud pies, allowed the pet dog to lick my face, and was never given any choice to not eat some food that was placed before me. I have no known allergies, because my early life included exposure to all the likely ones.

It is real. I don't know the exact statistics but it's common enough that some schools even ban kids from bringing peanut products in their lunches.

This is an increasing issue across many countries. One of the countries where it isn't happening is Israel. In Israel there's a children's snack, I forgot the name, that uses peanut butter. It's so popular that the common joke is that it's a baby's first words in Israel. It's believed that the heavy usage of peanuts in American food products have led to peanut residue being kind of everywhere. Sort of like how if you test a bunch of random $20 bills they'll have cocaine residue. That leads to peanuts being introduced into children from just sitting around and the body treats it as a foreign substance and over reacts. That's what an allergy is by the way.

In answer to your original question, yes, there are a lot of people with severe peanut allergies but not so many that you'd notice. It's become a topic or conversation because of how schools have reacted to this, by banning peanuts from entire schools. I recall hearing about how even students couldn't bring in peanuts because one student's allergy was so severe even the smell could set it off.

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Mission-Carry-887@reddit

Yes

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WaffleGuy7@reddit

I saw it all the time, but I was a school nurse for 8 years at various schools and districts. Over that time I probably went through a few thousand student medical files (I helped with data entry for hearing and vision screens, which is mandatory in CA a few times throughout elementary school) to find maybe 20ish? Been at the VA the last 5 and haven’t seen it once.

So my point is, while still pretty uncommon, it seems more common today than it did maybe 30 years ago.

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Beautiful-Muscle2661@reddit

I live in Ontario and it is common enough that most schools and daycares are completely peanut free.

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Sudden_Priority7558@reddit

definitely exaggerated in movies but some people do.

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cat_prophecy@reddit

Lack of exposure plays a bit part of it. Cultures where peanuts are commonly consumed have less incidence of peanut allergies.

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Comprehensive-Race-3@reddit

I think it's relatively common.My daughter had a boy with a severe peanut allergy in her class 20 years ago, and we had to stop all peanut foods in the school cafeteria. Don't know if he outgrew it, but my boss at work and my daughter's mother-in-law have peanut allergies. My boss has an Epi- pen at work and told everyone where it was, just in case he needed it. Another coworker has a daughter with a tree nut allergy, but not peanuts.

The MIL not only has a peanut allergy, but also all tree nuts and has celiac disease. She is a hard one to cook for or go out to restaurants with!

I suppose the adults might have outgrown their allergies, but truthfully, the dangers of anaphylactic shock make them unlikely to test that theory on their own.

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rawbface@reddit

The people in your country who are allergic to peanuts, either never leave their house or they already died.

There are big benefits to being sensitive to other people's peanut allergy.

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Consistent_Damage885@reddit

A few. But I think peanuts might be more prolific in American stuff anyway so that might contribute to it being more noticeable.

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Unusual_Form3267@reddit

I think I've probably met more people with actual nut allergies than peanut.

But I've probably met at least one person with a peanut allergy.

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SnooDonuts6494@reddit

About 2% of children. Less as people get older.

Google is quite good at answering that type of question.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut_allergy

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BubblyTaro6234@reddit

Statistically, the number of peanut allergies in the US has grown immensely over the past few decades, and, I don’t believe we quite know why. For older generations, such as mine, it was comparatively rare.

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Certain_Mobile1088@reddit

Pretty common now, but was rare in my younger days (b. 1959). Or maybe people didn’t survive bc we didn’t have Epi-pens.

As a teacher, I’ve had to be super careful since about 2000. And Airlines have eliminated peanuts as the snack they hand out on domestic flight in the past 10 years or so.

My daughter had a baby in 2023 and her pediatrician recommended something to prevent her son from having peanut allergy. Or maybe it was while she was pregnant. I don’t recall. But perhaps medical science has found and addressed the issue now.

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Ok_Organization_7350@reddit

This is new even in America. Decades ago, airplanes in the US used to pass out honey roasted peanuts to everyone; of course that is banned now due to US peanut allergies. And a long time ago, I had never known anyone allergic to peanuts either. So something in America is causing this which did not used to exist. Drug companies have different formulations/ recipes for vaccines for different countries. In their recipe for US vaccines, it seems some of those ingredients are creating peanut and food allergies here. See below.

Evidence that Food Proteins in Vaccines Cause the Development of Food Allergies and Its Implications for Vaccine Policy

Journal of Developing Drugs, 2015, DOI: 10.4172/2329-6631.1000137

Posted: 4 May 2020

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3571073

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lechydda@reddit

I’ve never met anyone with a nut allergy that I know of. Which means probably no one in any elementary-middle school class (where we would still bring food for class sometimes) and no one where we ever ate together. I did know someone who was allergic to dairy when I was younger, so for birthday parties we would always have rainbow sherbet separate from the rest of the ice cream.

I wouldn’t say it’s all that common, but it’s often pretty severe and since nuts are common in many foods, it’s a simple plot device.

Also I have an allergy to a medication that’s extremely severe to the point where my Dr had me carry an epi pen when I traveled in case I couldn’t tell if a non-familiar medication might include it. But I’ve never met anyone who carried one daily for anything.

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phred_666@reddit

I taught high school for over 30 years. I have had several students with nut allergies over the years. I also taught in a very poor, very rural district and I would keep snacks on hand because I had a lot of kids who were food insecure at home (in some cases, the only meals the kids got was at school). I had to be very careful about what I kept on hand because of the nut allergies.

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WestBrink@reddit

Not super common, no, but common enough that when I was a kid all peanut products were banned at school one year...

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not_a_witch_@reddit

I’ve never met anyone with a peanut allergy, severe or not. I’ve heard stories of folks not being able to send their kids to school with a peanut butter sandwich or whatever because of someone in their kid’s class with a severe nut allergy, but I never had anyone in my class who was that allergic growing up.

I think TV and movies make it seem more common because it’s an easy convenient plot device. But it’s always a one off and never mentioned again, actually having a very severe nut allergy would be something I imagine would be difficult and you’d always have to be careful.

From what I understand, the way that we approach peanut allergies has changed. Nowadays they say introducing them early is the right move, even eating them while pregnant supposedly helps, whereas before it was different. I’m sure that means that folks who come from places where peanuts are common in their cuisine (we really don’t eat that many peanuts in the US, despite the fact that everyone seems to think we eat peanut butter all the time) have lower instances of peanut allergies.

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Meowmeowmeow31@reddit

I teach middle school, and I’d estimate about 1% of my students have severe peanut allergies. There have been advances in understanding what causes the allergy and how to reduce the severity, so I hope that number comes down soon.

What country are you in? Part of the reason why peanut allergies come up so much in American media is that we eat peanuts a LOT compared to some places - peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, apple slices with peanut butter, and chocolates with peanuts are all extremely common here.

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Vegetable-Star-5833@reddit

I know 1 person irl who is allergic

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DOMSdeluise@reddit

It's more common with some younger people because the guidance used to be to avoid allergens as a safety precaution. But then the prevalence of peanut and other allergies spiked and they figured that maybe it was better to introduce allergens at a young age again so their immune systems can get used to it.

TricksyGoose@reddit

I have a nephew who is allergic to like 147,000 different things, including peanuts (and dairy and eggs and wheat and avocado and bananas among other things). I have no idea how they keep him fed. But I don't know anyone else who is allergic to peanuts.

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ris-3@reddit

I have read there are about 2 million people total in the USA (current population approx 300M) who have peanut allergies. I have met 2, and to my knowledge one was a mild allergy and the other more moderate/severe. It’s not exactly rare but it’s also not auper common.

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