Our understanding of peanut allergy and its prevention has changed dramatically in recent years. Avoidance of peanuts used to be recommended. Now, for the majority of children, the approach taken in official guidelines is to introduce peanut-containing foods early in order to promote tolerance and prevent the development of allergies later.
The National Peanut Board addresses the issues around early introduction of peanut foods from the perspectives of parents, educators, healthcare providers and everyone concerned with caring for children.
Peanut Allergy Facts
Allergy awareness in schools is everybody’s business. Rather than banning peanuts, or any other allergenic food, it is much better – and safer – to take a whole-school approach to ensure that everyone knows about food allergy – pupils, parents, teachers, food service personnel – so that risks can be minimized and responsibility for keeping food allergic children safe becomes part of the culture of the school.
Resources
- To learn more about U.S. based facts from the National Peanut Board, go to: http://peanutallergyfacts.org/for-schools
- To learn more about the Allergy UK schools project, go to: www.allergyuk.org/information-and-advice/for-schools/whole-school-allergy-awareness-management
- The American peanut industry generously supports peanut allergy research. Since 2001, through the National Peanut Board, peanut farmers have invested more than $25.3 million into research and education about food and peanut allergies. https://vimeo.com/219524861
Food Allergies in General
- FARE (Food Allergy Research and Education) www.foodallergy.org
