MULTI-sOURCE aCADEMIC wRITING on Peanut allergies - Essay Example

This paper will address the major causes of peanut allergy as well as possible solutions to solve the problem. Peanut allergy is type of food allergy which is characterized by a human organism’s hypersensitive reaction to substances found in peanut that cause a specific reaction of the immune system. In particular, the symptoms of peanut allergy are digestive problems, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, skin reactions, including swelling, itching, redness, tightening of the throat, wheezing, and such a life-threatening reaction as anaphylaxis, which can lead to lethal outcome.

This is why peanut allergy is among the most severe food allergies; moreover, about ninety percent of American household tend to consume peanut butter (American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, 2014). In accordance with the study conducted by allergists at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, the prevalence of peanut allergy among children has increased from 0.4 percent in 1997 to 1.4 percent in 2010 in the United States (Brody, 2014). At this point, exact causes of peanut allergy are not clear.

One of the main theories, which explains the rise of this type of food allergy, is known as the Hygiene Theory. In accordance with it, allergy is caused by the changes in the environment. Today, people have access to clean water, antibiotics etc., and, as a result, the human immune system has nothing harmful to attack; so, it mistakes food protein for something unsalutary (Davis, 2013). However, the Hygiene Theory is “likely a part of the picture, but it’s not entire explanation” (Davis, 2013).

At the same time, the rise of peanut allergy can be also caused by the so-called First World Problems. Accordingly to Davis (2013), this food allergy has surfaced because of an “increasingly wealthy, sophisticated, modern Western society”. Finally, some researchers refer to