Genetic Risk Factor for Peanut Allergies Identified

It is difficult to find a school, camp or other facility catering to children these days that is not nut free. The prevalence of peanut allergies in preschool and school age children in the UK, the US and Canada is between 1.2 – 1.6%, which is about twice the rate at which it occurs in adults in these countries. Nut allergies, especially peanut allergies, are scary. And although they have been on the rise, no one really knows why. Researchers in Scotland recently reported in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology that mutations in the gene for filaggrin, a protein found in skin, are a “significant risk factor for peanut allergy” [1].

Peanuts and peanut butter