How would you react if I told you that one of the reasons
your child has a peanut allergy was because you did not dust properly when
he/she was a baby? Well, this is not entirely the case. Researchers at King’s
College London in collaboration with the University of Manchester and the
University of Dundee found a strong connection between exposure to peanut
protein in household dust during infancy and the development of peanut allergy
in children genetically predisposed to a skin barrier defect.
Peanut allergies are defiantly one of the more common food allergies in the United States
rounding out at about 2% of the population. Many who have
come to develop any food allergies have suffered from severe eczema at one point in their early years, particularly from peanut allergies. Understanding
of eczema has developed with the discovery of the FLG gene, which
codes for the skin barrier protein Fiaggrin. Mutations in this gene causes an impaired
skin barrier which is hypothesized to predispose the body to develop allergic responses
since allergens could penetrate the skin easier. This study looked at the
amount of peanut protein children in the first year of life were exposed to in household
dust. This was done by measuring the peanut in the dust vacuumed from the
living room sofa.
577 children from the ages 8-11 were assessed for peanut allergy and their
DNA was checked for the FLG mutation. It was found that a three-fold increase
in peanut house dust exposure during infancy was associated with a three-fold
increase in risk of school-age peanut allergy. However, there was no significant
effect of environmental peanut exposure in children without FLG mutations since
only one in five children with peanut allergy had an FLG mutation.
I find this article vastly fascinating since these findings are an example of how an individual's
response to their environment can be modified by their genes. With this study
raises the possibility of identifying children with the FLG mutation and
altering their environment to prevent the development of the peanut allergy.
Definitely interesting, particularly when entertaining the scenario of significantly decreasing the amount of people with peanut allergies. It would be awesome to identify people with the FLG mutation and begin from there.
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