Peanut allergy is a disease affecting the immune system in which the body suffers from a range of symptoms after exposure to some of the proteins in peanuts. It is distinct and different from nut allergy. A peanut is a legume whereas a tree nut is a dry fruit. While the symptoms and signs maybe the same, a person with a peanut allergy might not have a nut allergy.
Peanut Allergy is the most prevalent food allergy in the US, where as many as one and a half million people suffer from the disease. For some of them, exposure to the smallest amount of peanut can trigger a serious and potentially fatal allergic reaction. How small? A standard peanut has about 200 mg of protein, and studies have shown that some people have an allergic reaction to just 2 mg—or around 1% of one peanut.
Most of the allergic rhinitis symptoms are the similar to the common cold symptoms. Among these symptoms, sneezing, coughing, watery eyes, and itchy mouth, nose, throat are a few to mention. There are many different anti-allergy medications used in the treatment of allergic rhinitis symptoms. Flonase and Nasacort are one of the most effective medications. However there has always been a debate about nasacort vs flonase. Both of these medicines try to block the receptors on which the allergens is attached to avoid histamine from releasing.
Foods to Avoid
Someone suffering from a peanut allergy must understand what foods to avoid. One has to be vigilant about reading and understanding the labels and ingredients on not only everything he or she eats, but also the oils and creams they might apply to their skin. Additionally, since an allergic reaction can occur from cross-contact (meaning foods that were processed on machines that previously processed a peanut product and not thoroughly cleaned), people with peanut allergy or those caring for someone with one have to be extremely careful.
Below is a list of foods to avoid—both obvious and not—that may contain peanuts or peanut proteins and can induce an allergic reaction. Note that pure peanut oil is not on this list; that’s because the process of purifying peanut oil removes the proteins that cause allergic reactions. There also may be items that do not appear on this least that may cause an allergic reaction.
