Finding a Peanut Allergy Clinical Study

Doing some more research on Duke University Medical Center's web site, I came across a link to a national Clinical Trials site... appropriately named ClinicalTrials.gov. The site is a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. This may be the first step I was looking for. I performed a search for "peanut allergy" under the "Search for Clinical Trials" option. There are some trials that are recruiting and others that are not yet recruiting. At least its a start. One step closer.

Peanut Allergy Clinical Trials link

How To Become Part of Desensitization Program

From the research that I've done I've found that there are desensitization studies happening at some U.S. locations including Duke University Medical Center and Arkansas Children's Hospital. I am interested in enrolling my son in one of the studies (preferably the Duke University program) but how do you "get into" the program. I will be focusing more on this aspect over my next postings. I'm not sure how to do this, but I feel this is the best solution considering that as Christopher gets older, it will become more difficult for him to totally avoid peanuts as society currently exists.

Peanuts in the School Cafeteria

Christopher started classes at a new school this year. Me, being the overprotective Dad that I am, I was very interested (and concerned) about what type of monitoring would take place in regards to my son's peanut allergy. Christopher will be eating his lunch at a special peanut-free table. The school is also storing / keeping one of our Epipens and are trained on how to use it. After talking with his homeroom teacher, I have the sense that she has had many students (in her years as a teacher) that have had a peanut allergy, and she knows exactly what to look for. It's difficult enough for a parent to place their child's care in the hands of another individual... it's ever so much more difficult when that child has a potentially life threatening allergy. Sometimes you just have to have faith that everything will be okay.

Causes for Peanut Allergy

In a previous post of mine ("Why So Many Kids With Peanut Allergy?"), I wrote about one of the reasons (that I've heard) that peanut allergies are so much more prevalent today, is that we have become such an anti-bacterial society, that out bodies are looking for things to fight off. I recently found a web site that identifies what they feel the causes are for peanut allergies. The site is affiliated with Cincinnati Children's Hospital and their Cincinnati Eosinophilic Disorders Center. Some associations with peanut allergy include the duration of breastfeeding, the consumption of soy milk or soy formula, and rashes over joints and skin creases. My wife breastfed Christopher for about 1 year. He did drink soy milk, but this was only after we discovered his peanut allergy and milk allergy. Christopher did have rashes over some of his joints; we considered this to be eczema. The site goes into greater detail; I've provided a link below and would encourage you to look at the information.

Causes for Peanut Allergy

Nut Free Snack Food

I discovered a wonderful "nut free" snack food this weekend called "Wheat Nuts". At first, the name made me question how tasty this snack food would really be. However, after I started eating them, I found that I had difficulty trying to stop eating them. Christopher had the same experience I had, but even liked them moreso... I think. He made one of those comments that every child makes... he stated he loved them so much, he wanted to marry them. Three things will keep me buying Wheat Nuts: 1.) They are nut free, so I don't have to worry about Christopher's peanut allergy 2.) It is a healthy snack food 3.) They taste great. Next time your in your neighborhood grocery store, look for and try "Wheat Nuts"; we did and we really enjoyed them.

About Wheat Nuts

Nestle's Peanut Free Candy

I was pleasantly surprised to find a major player in the candy world committed to a peanut free platform. I'm not just talking about food that doesn't have peanuts in it, but actually food that is produced in a peanut free facility, so that the risk of peanut allergy is totally removed. The specifically peanut free facility appears to be located in Canada. The brands of candy on their web site include the following: Kit Kat, Aero, Smarties and Coffee Crisp. As we approach Halloween, this presents another possible solution to the peanut allergy dilemma.

Nestle's peanut free site

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.