Parsing the peanut panic: The social life of a contested food allergy epidemic

Waggoner, Miranda R.

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.04.031

Cited by 42 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Food allergies have been declared a newly emerging health risk (Harrington et al . ) and a 21st‐century epidemic (Waggoner ). Those experiencing this invisible risk in Ontario, Canada, are required, under Sabrina's Law, to disclose their food allergies in order to mitigate risk in public settings; that is, you will not know how to deal with my (invisible) food allergy unless I disclose to you that I have one.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disclosing food allergy status in schools: health-related stigma among school children in Ontario

Dean

Fenton

Shannon

et al. 2015

Health Soc Care Community

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In 2006, 3 years after the tragic death of 13-year-old Sabrina Shannon, the Province of Ontario (Canada) passed Sabrina's Law ushering in a new era of focus and concern for severe food allergic children at risk of anaphylaxis. Questions were raised at the time regarding the potential of doing more harm than good with the new legislation. This paper reports the experiences of health-related stigma among food allergic children at risk of anaphylaxis who were required to disclose their health status under this new legislation. In 2008, in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 children and youth and their parents in order to explore the experiences living with a severe food allergy. This particular study explores their experiences of felt and enacted stigma in the school setting as a result of the disclosure process. Interviews were tape recorded with permission and transcribed for subsequent thematic analysis using NVIVO, a qualitative analysis software package. Results indicate that participants were stigmatised as a result of protective school policies under the law, and that created tension between their physical safety and social well-being. Sabrina's Law also led to a cultural shift in awareness of food allergies that resulted in some participants normalising their health status, offering promising directions for the future.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disclosing food allergy status in schools: health-related stigma among school children in Ontario

Dean

Fenton

Shannon

et al. 2015

Health Soc Care Community

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“…Peanut allergy is a major health problem, particularly in Westernized countries. This food allergy has an increasing prevalence among the pediatric and infant populations and persists until adulthood in most cases [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Clinical symptoms can be induced by traces of peanut and reactions are usually severe and potentially fatal.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heat processing of peanut seed enhances the sensitization potential of the major peanut allergen Ara h 6

Guillon

Bernard

Drumare

et al. 2016

Mol. Nutr. Food Res.

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ScopeProcessing of food has been shown to impact IgE binding and functionality of food allergens. In the present study, we investigated the impact of heat processing on the sensitization capacity of Ara h 6, a major peanut allergen and one of the most potent elicitors of the allergic reaction.Methods and resultsPeanut extracts obtained from raw or heat‐processed peanut and some fractions thereof were biochemically and immunochemically characterized. These extracts/fractions, purified Ara h 6, or recombinant Ara h 6 including Ara h 6 mutants lacking disulfide bridges were used in in vitro digestion tests and mouse models of experimental sensitization. Peanut roasting led to the formation of complexes of high molecular weight, notably between Ara h 6 and Ara h 1, which supported the induction of IgE specific to native Ara h 6. On the contrary, a fraction containing free monomeric 2S albumins or purified native Ara h 6 displayed no intrinsic allergenicity. In addition to complex formation, heat denaturation and/or partial destabilization enhanced Ara h 6 immunogenicity and increased its sensitivity to digestion.ConclusionThese results suggest that sensitization potency and IgE binding capacity can be supported by different structures, modified and/or produced during food processing in interaction with other food constituents.

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“…The consumers are also exposed to uncontrolled lay information on the possible risks of ‘new’ food allergies. Recent examples show how this can translate in the creation of social alarm, for disparate reasons [60]. The implementation of PFAL type II could add to their panic, but would be necessary if cross-reactivity are frequent as in the case of milk.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preacutionary labelling of cross-reactive foods: The case of rapeseed

Fiocchi

Dahdah

Riccardi

et al. 2016

asthma res and pract

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Food allergic individuals are exposed to unnecessary dietary restrictions due to precautionary food allergy labelling (PFAL). Two forms of PFAL exist: type I identifies the possible presence of allergenic contaminaion in foods (‘may content…’), type II indicates as potentially dangerous ingredients or contaminants that do no belong to official list of food allergens. PFAL type II is based on the fear of cross-reactivity with foods belonging to that list. PFAL type II is less known, but may be tempting for the legal offices of food companies, for clinicians in a ‘defensive medicine’ key, and even for legislators. We identify here a case of PFAL type II, allergy to rapeseed (belonging to the family of Brassicaceae). Increasingly used for their nutritional and nutraceutic value in asthma prevention, rapeseed has been indicated by regulatory authorities in Canada and Europe as potential cross-reactor with mustard. In this review, we provide the elements for a risk assessment of cross-reactivity of rapeseed/mustard allergy in the general population both clinically and from the point of view of the molecular allergy. Three findings emerge:1. Allergic reactions to rapeseed are exceptional2. The allergens identified in rapeseed and mustard are similar, but not identical3. Reactions to rapeseed have never been described in mustard-allergic patients.On the ground of existing evidence, a precautionary labeling for rapeseed as potentially dangerous for patients allergic to mustard is not justified. In the interest of patients with multiple food allergy, PFAL type II must be avoided.

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Parsing the peanut panic: The social life of a contested food allergy epidemic

Cited by 42 publications

References 54 publications

Disclosing food allergy status in schools: health-related stigma among school children in Ontario

Disclosing food allergy status in schools: health-related stigma among school children in Ontario

Heat processing of peanut seed enhances the sensitization potential of the major peanut allergen Ara h 6

Preacutionary labelling of cross-reactive foods: The case of rapeseed

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