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American Morning

Paging Dr. Gupta: Peanut Allergies

Aired December 12, 2003 - 08:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There's an alarming increase in the number of children with peanut allergies, a new study is finding. It's time to "Page Dr. Gupta" for a little more information on this.
Good morning.

The number is significantly higher.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: One in 125 children will develop peanut allergies, and that can be pretty significant. People sort of blow off peanut allergies, but take a look at some of the symptoms that develop, can be a tingling in the mouth, a swelling in the tongue or throat, difficulty breathing. That's concerning. Abdominal cramping, eczema, skin rash. People can die from these peanut allergies, and that's why people are making a big deal about it.

Question, why are the peanut allergies increasing in numbers now? And this has been something that's been the subject of quite a bit of research. There's three different theories out there. No one really knows for sure as to why these peanut allergies are increasing, probably an earlier introduction to the body than ever before. These peanuts are really ubiquitous, lotions, foods, all sorts of different things. Increase in the types of all sorts of food allergies in which peanuts are one type. And the roasting process of peanuts seems to make them a little bit more noticeable to the body and they develop and they develop an immune response to them.

O'BRIEN: So are they saying that there's something you can do with the babies in utero that would keep their child there getting peanut allergies, or not?

GUPTA: Well, it's interesting. They've looked at pregnant women, they looked at women who were lactating, as well breast- feeding, to try and find out if there's a link between these sorts of things, and they find out that there probably is. Women who are eating quite a bit of peanuts or eating peanuts while lactating seem to have children who also have a greater incidence of peanut allergies. That was sort of an interesting point. Also if both parents have peanut allergies, your child is 50 percent likely to have peanut allergies, one parent, about 25 percent.

O'BRIEN: How can you identify it? If it's just a tingling or something that's really not noticeable, is it really dangerous? Obviously if your child's not breathing, clearly that's a very dangerous allergy. How about all the other sort of less important levels? GUPTA: Good point. And a lot of people as a result of that might not even know they're allergic to peanuts, because you might eat a food, you might think that was a little strange, I got a little bit of tingling there, and my tongue became a little bit numb for a second. Was that an allergy? Or was it something else? But most times -- and it's a good point, because most times, it's not going to lead to death. And I need to reinforce that, but it's become dangerous enough to the point where airlines don't put them on planes anymore, because someone even from the whiff of peanut powder can develop a severe anaphalatic (ph) reaction, so some people need to be careful when they're out eating at restaurants and things like that.

O'BRIEN: There are some parents that won't give their kids any peanut anything, before the child is even necessarily proven to be allergic. Do you think that's the right way to go?

GUPTA: There may be something to that. And not just the foods, but also the lotions. You know, babies, peanut-oil based lotions for baby's bottoms, things like that.

O'BRIEN: I had no idea, I've never even heard of peanut-based lotions.

GUPTA: If you look at the contents, a lot of times peanut oil is part of the content for a lot of those lotions, as well. Could that be causing an immune response in a very young child, in a child six months, you know, around that age? Possibly. A lot of researchers believe that to be true. So if you can minimize the exposure to peanuts, to young children especially, you may give them a life without peanut allergies.

O'BRIEN: My kids don't seem to have peanut allergies, but are these the kind of allergies that you can develop, like there are -- seem to be other allergies that you get as you get older. Can you get it -- if my child doesn't have it now, will they get it at 5 maybe, or 6, or 10?

GUPTA: You can, but with peanut allergies, the vast majority of them will develop in childhood, and then you won't outgrow them. You'll have them basically you're entire life, but if your child was developing a peanut allergy you'd probably have some inkling, you know, if you kept an eye whenever they had peanut butter or something like that.

O'BRIEN: Sanjay, thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 12, 2003 - 08:42   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There's an alarming increase in the number of children with peanut allergies, a new study is finding. It's time to "Page Dr. Gupta" for a little more information on this.
Good morning.

The number is significantly higher.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: One in 125 children will develop peanut allergies, and that can be pretty significant. People sort of blow off peanut allergies, but take a look at some of the symptoms that develop, can be a tingling in the mouth, a swelling in the tongue or throat, difficulty breathing. That's concerning. Abdominal cramping, eczema, skin rash. People can die from these peanut allergies, and that's why people are making a big deal about it.

Question, why are the peanut allergies increasing in numbers now? And this has been something that's been the subject of quite a bit of research. There's three different theories out there. No one really knows for sure as to why these peanut allergies are increasing, probably an earlier introduction to the body than ever before. These peanuts are really ubiquitous, lotions, foods, all sorts of different things. Increase in the types of all sorts of food allergies in which peanuts are one type. And the roasting process of peanuts seems to make them a little bit more noticeable to the body and they develop and they develop an immune response to them.

O'BRIEN: So are they saying that there's something you can do with the babies in utero that would keep their child there getting peanut allergies, or not?

GUPTA: Well, it's interesting. They've looked at pregnant women, they looked at women who were lactating, as well breast- feeding, to try and find out if there's a link between these sorts of things, and they find out that there probably is. Women who are eating quite a bit of peanuts or eating peanuts while lactating seem to have children who also have a greater incidence of peanut allergies. That was sort of an interesting point. Also if both parents have peanut allergies, your child is 50 percent likely to have peanut allergies, one parent, about 25 percent.

O'BRIEN: How can you identify it? If it's just a tingling or something that's really not noticeable, is it really dangerous? Obviously if your child's not breathing, clearly that's a very dangerous allergy. How about all the other sort of less important levels? GUPTA: Good point. And a lot of people as a result of that might not even know they're allergic to peanuts, because you might eat a food, you might think that was a little strange, I got a little bit of tingling there, and my tongue became a little bit numb for a second. Was that an allergy? Or was it something else? But most times -- and it's a good point, because most times, it's not going to lead to death. And I need to reinforce that, but it's become dangerous enough to the point where airlines don't put them on planes anymore, because someone even from the whiff of peanut powder can develop a severe anaphalatic (ph) reaction, so some people need to be careful when they're out eating at restaurants and things like that.

O'BRIEN: There are some parents that won't give their kids any peanut anything, before the child is even necessarily proven to be allergic. Do you think that's the right way to go?

GUPTA: There may be something to that. And not just the foods, but also the lotions. You know, babies, peanut-oil based lotions for baby's bottoms, things like that.

O'BRIEN: I had no idea, I've never even heard of peanut-based lotions.

GUPTA: If you look at the contents, a lot of times peanut oil is part of the content for a lot of those lotions, as well. Could that be causing an immune response in a very young child, in a child six months, you know, around that age? Possibly. A lot of researchers believe that to be true. So if you can minimize the exposure to peanuts, to young children especially, you may give them a life without peanut allergies.

O'BRIEN: My kids don't seem to have peanut allergies, but are these the kind of allergies that you can develop, like there are -- seem to be other allergies that you get as you get older. Can you get it -- if my child doesn't have it now, will they get it at 5 maybe, or 6, or 10?

GUPTA: You can, but with peanut allergies, the vast majority of them will develop in childhood, and then you won't outgrow them. You'll have them basically you're entire life, but if your child was developing a peanut allergy you'd probably have some inkling, you know, if you kept an eye whenever they had peanut butter or something like that.

O'BRIEN: Sanjay, thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com