Nut avoidance reaching 'hysterical' levels

Wednesday December 10th, 2008

Fear of nut allergies is creating "mass hysteria", according to an expert today.

Professor Nicolas Christakis from Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, writes on the website of the British Medical Journal that some decisions taken to avoid exposure to nuts are based on irrational fears and are "becoming increasingly sensationalist".

Professor Christakis states that in the US, 150 people die each year from food allergies. This is compared to 50 who die from bee stings, 100 who die from lightening strikes, 45,000 who die in motor vehicle accidents, and 10,000 who are hospitalised for traumatic brain injury from playing sport. "But these issues do not incur such extreme reactions, such as calling for an end to sport," he writes.

He relates the story of a peanut on the floor of a school bus leading to evacuation and "decontamination" in case it might be eaten by one of the ten year old passengers.

There are three problems with such actions, he warns.

"Firstly, these responses represent a gross over-reaction to the magnitude of the threat. Secondly, there is no scientific evidence that the particular restrictions being imposed are effective or that they warrant the costs incurred. And, thirdly, and most importantly, these responses are making things worse."

Complete avoidance of nuts may result in children who are actually sensitised to them. "Through a feedback loop the policy of avoidance ends up creating the epidemic it is trying to stop," Professor Christakis warns.

The responses bear many of the hallmarks of mass psychogenic illness, or "epidemic hysteria", he writes, the recommended treatment for which includes "providing reassurance and using a calm and authoritative approach".

Christakis, N. Observations column: This allergies hysteria is just nuts. The British Medical Journal, 2008;337:a2880.

Tags: Allergies & Asthma | Child Health | North America

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