Why So Many Kids with Peanut Allergy?

Why are peanut allergies (and allergies in general) so common in kids today? When I was a kid, the biggest thing we had to deal with in regards to our health was chicken pox, a scraped knee or a runny nose. Allergies didn't seem to be all that common. When my wife and I started having children, we began to come face to face with the reality of allergies. Now it seems as if at least 50% of school children have a peanut allergy, or at least some type of allergy. One reason I've heard of which explains why this is happening in today's society is that we are too "clean". We have antibacterial everything and our bodies are now looking for things to fight, so they begin choosing things like "peanuts". I don't know how true this thought is, but it kind of makes sense. I will continue to always wash my hands after I use the restroom... I'm not going to any extreme you know. However, maybe I won't get as worried about germs as I sometimes have been in the past. It s not easy with all of the H1N1 talk in the news these days. Sometimes I think our bodies are smarter than we believe they are; maybe they know what is best for them.