bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Mary Ann

Mary Ann Benitez

Specialist suggests reason for difference between Asian and western figures

The Chinese practice of boiling peanuts might account for the lower incidence of peanut allergies among local children compared to westerners, specialists say.

In Hong Kong, experts estimate that less than 1 per cent of children under 18 are allergic to peanuts, while the estimate in the United States is that 1 per cent of children have the allergy.

Worldwide, up to 5 per cent of children under 18 may have  some sort of food allergy.

Concerns about the dangers  were highlighted this week after  a 15-year-old Canadian girl with a peanut allergy  died after kissing her boyfriend, who had eaten a peanut butter sandwich nine hours earlier.

Hospital officials in Saguenay, 250km north of Quebec City, said on Monday that Christina Desforges died last week after doctors were unable to treat her allergic reaction to the kiss the previous weekend.

Adrian Wu Young-yuen, a private specialist, suggested  the lower prevalence of peanut allergies in local children could be  attributed to the different ways Asians and westerners eat peanuts.

'Animal experiments showed that if the rats were fed  boiled peanuts they did not become allergic. If roasted peanuts are fed to the rats, they become allergic.

'That might be one of the reasons why children who eat boiled peanuts do not become as allergic as people who eat a lot of peanut butter or roasted peanuts,' Dr Wu said.

'In countries like Thailand and Hong Kong, we do not get as much roasted peanuts. We have peanuts in soup and so this would not cause as much sensitivity.'

The incidence of peanut allergies in Hong Kong has never been tracked, as the Department of Health does not keep records of food allergies.

But preliminary findings of a study of 100 children with  atopic conditions such as asthma and hay fever suggest 20 per cent had positive skin tests for a peanut allergy, said Ellis Hon Kam-lun, who is an associate professor in paediatrics at Chinese University.

Forty per cent of the children were allergic to  shellfish, 30 per cent to eggs and 20 per cent to milk, he said.

The study did not test for a response to beancurd or chicken as these were not known allergens, Professor Hon said.

He cautioned about interpreting the results.

These children may show sensitivity to having a peanut extract under their skin, but they would not go into anaphylactic shock, he said.

It was very rare to find people with such severe food allergies. 'Otherwise we would have seen more people dying.'

But Dr Wu was less sanguine, citing overseas studies showing that people who have a positive peanut skin test  actually have a 60 per cent chance of having a severe reaction.

In most  studies, the average amount of peanut that can be tolerated was just half a kernel of a peanut, he said.

'But in some people, of course, you are talking about a much, much smaller amount.'



Boiling may lower rate of allergies from nuts