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My daughter has a peanut allergy and thankfully, she only has an anaphylactic reaction if she ingests it. If she touches it, she only gets hives in that area (so far). However, each time she is exposed, her reaction is more severe so continued exposure in any form frightens me. She has lesser reactions to other legumes but realized that when she eats garbanzo beans, soy, lentils, etc., her throat gets irritated.
I was buying the Barilla Plus pasta in an attempt to eat a healthier pasta (more fiber, more protein). After about 6 months, she said "Every time we eat pasta my lips feel puffy". I checked the package and found it has "legume flour" as an ingredient. I never bought that again!
I don't know that I agree with the reasoning for the increase in peanut allergies. It certainly doesn't fit her situation. She had gastro reactions to soy formula at four weeks old (after having lactose intolerance to milk based formulas and gastro reactions to my breast milk, probably because I ate a ton of peanut butter). She had her first peanut butter and jelly sandwich around age 2 and had her first peanut reaction with the second peanut butter and jelly sandwich about a week later. She definitely ate a wide variety of foods and my home was not a sterile environment. They have found some common genetic markers in kids with peanut allergies. Perhaps, before there were better medications to deal with it, people died of these reactions before they could reproduce and pass the genes on? Perhaps it is recessive (neither my ex husband or I are allergic to peanut products and neither is my son).
I was lucky that we didn't have to go to extremes with her at school. She knew she couldn't eat it and her friends knew she couldn't eat it. My son and I eat peanut butter. I make our sandwiches with plastic knives on paper plates so I can throw it all away and not get peanut oil on anything. I wash my hands after putting the peanut butter on the bread, before I touch the jelly jar. I use a separate utensil for the jelly. It's a hassle.
I have a friend whose son has had anaphylactic reactions from being in the same cafeteria as a child who was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I don't know what I'd do if my child was that sensitive. Perhaps the better solution is to have children who are that highly allergic eat in a separate space.
And my son was that kid who wouldn't eat any kind of sandwich except peanut butter and jelly.
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