A Peanut's Kiss of Death

by James Yu, Posted Dec 4th 2005 @ 10:02AM

peanuts In a tragic turn of events, a 15 year old girl allergic to peanuts has died after kissing her boyfriend who had just had a peanut snack. They say that allergies to peanuts has been rising in the past. Food allergies rarely lead to death, but peanuts contains one of these rare allergens that causes such extreme reactions in certain people. This is why it's a good idea for anyone with allergies to print out an allergy card that will alert waiters and restaurants about sensitive food items.

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Filed Under: Science, Ingredients
Tags: nuts, seeds

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

12-05-2005 @6:46PM Peter said... Why is it that peanut allergies have suddenly become so commonplace? As recently as 20 years ago peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were the all-American meal. Now you can't get a kid within 20 feet of one.
What happened? It all changed much too quickly for genetics/evolution to be a factor.
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12-13-2005 @4:47PM CJ said... It probably doesn't happen more now, it just got more attention since some media outlet decided to make a big deal about it. I feel for people with allergies, but how close to they really have to be to a peanut before they get a reaction? I just want my airplane peanuts back man!
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12-06-2005 @4:24PM Tiffany said... Food allergies are very serious and scary for those who have them or, like me ,have a child with food allergies. They are difficult to manage for everyone involved especially when you add young children to the picture. They don't understand why they can't share food or have something the other children are eating. I know others may feel this is an inconvenience to them; however, you must consider our situation as well. Like everyone else, we just want to be able to travel without the fear of our children dieing because someone is eating a food to which they are highly allergic. And yes, some people are so allergic that just being around a food can cause a deadly reaction.
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12-06-2005 @6:52PM kitchenmage said... I want the answer to Peter's question. I've read theories about things like peanut oils being used on infants increasingly in the last few decades leading to increasingly sensitive kids, but that seems to be lacking in scope. I also read recently that in some places/cultures it's traditional to feed very small kids "peanut cheetos" (wouldn't that be peanutos?); the person was talking about Israel, and while I haven't asked her yet, I don't recall there being such a huge upsurge in allergies there--which completely messes with the early exposure theory.

If this was a book, it'd turn out to be a side-effect of Ritalin/Prozac/something that US kids have been increasingly medicated with recently. Or a nefarious plot by the (otherNut) growers to take over the PB&J market. Muhwahaha!
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