[pjb1967]

Originally Posted by JGarrick

Not to be too blunt about it, but you're not hearing about it in third world countries because 1) we don't hear about much of anything going on in third world countries, 2) it's likely that few people there are living with severe peanut allergies because they're dying from anaphylaxis the first time they're exposed, and 3) nobody is reporting stats on the number of people living with peanut allergies in the third world.

That's probably also why it's uncommon in parts of the world where peanuts are heavily used (China, for example). A century ago (and any time before then), it's likely that few people survived with a peanut allergy in a culture that ate so many peanuts. If they didn't live to have children, within a few generations that allergy would be almost unheard of in that peanut eating population.

Yes, you do make some good points but if you check online (of course this does not make it true) there is some information about this issue.

There was much information about us here in the U.S. and our fairly new obsession with antibacterial products creating some of the problem.

The "hygiene hypothesis" holds that life in the Western world has become so clean and antiseptic that the immune systems of its children are not being challenged sufficiently and have become less resistant creating many new allergies..

I'm 41 and back when I was a child, you never heard of anyone having a peanut allergy or rules at school of not being able to bring peanut butter or any snacks with peanuts in.
Based on what you are saying are we to assume this is because back then the kids in the USA that really did have peanut allergies died from anaphylaxis the first time they're exposed, that's why the issue did not exist? Of course not.

I'm was just thinking that our Guatemalan kids were exposed to a much different environment in their early months then babies in the USA which might explain the lack of this allergy in them.