NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Lifestyle

Going nuts

Herald online
12 Feb, 2009 10:33 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

They look innocuous enough, but for children with nut allergies this snack could be deadly. Photo / Derek Flynn

They look innocuous enough, but for children with nut allergies this snack could be deadly. Photo / Derek Flynn

KEY POINTS:

I admit it: I was one of those mums who always thought there was far too much hysteria about peanut allergies.

I was quietly bemused last year on receiving a chart from kindy outlining suitable afternoon tea snacks, none of which were allowed to contain peanuts. (Or yoghurt,
but this can be completely understood from a heck-of-a-mess perspective).

Just a week ago I was reading this article in Salon and chuckling to myself.

The article suggests that groups raising awareness about peanut and tree-nut allergies may have hyped the figures and created still more anxiety about life-threatening reactions to peanuts amongst parents...

After all, it's hard not to believe that peanut allergy fears have become over-hyped when, as related in this article, a peanut was found on the floor of a US school bus containing 10-year-olds and the whole bus was evacuated and hosed down as a precaution!

But as those of you who are parents will well know, it's a sure bet that the minute you think something is ridiculous, as soon as you think 'that will never happen to my child', it sure enough does. And that is, yet again, precisely what happened.

Let me just preface this story by saying that my maternal side was very "allergic".

We all have some degree of asthma, excema, hayfever, arthritis and the like - conditions which exist where the immune system over-reacts to external or environmental stimulants.

In addition, I married a man who has also had most of these conditions, albeit in a somewhat lessened form as an adult.

These conditions greatly increase - by as much as 50 per cent or more - the chances that your children will also inherit a tendency to them. And food allergies are amongst this group - allergies to nuts, eggs and fish in particular.

Hoping against hope, however, I had thought the children would be spared this annoying suite of conditions.

They'd both eaten everything without problems until this point - with relish, in fact. I had stuck to the advice about keeping them away from peanuts but I had thought it was more a case of avoiding choking than triggering an allergic response.

And then, one morning when my husband had kindly got up early to fix the kids their breakfast, I came into the kitchen to see peanut butter on the 10-month-old's toast.

I said to him - being polite because I had really enjoyed sleeping in - that I was waiting until the baby was a year old before giving her peanut butter. And then I turned to her, and noticed her face was red and mottled.

She wasn't gasping for breath. She was whiny, but still alert and moving. But she definitely had big red blotches all over her face and, as it turned out, had not eaten much of the peanut butter at all.

Later that night she was served fish and again broke out in red patches.

I have been referred to a immunologist to check her over. But I've had to mention her allergy to some people and no one is surprised.

The doctor told me it's rare to have a life-threatening reaction, but quite common to be allergic, and that it was now recommended that children stay away form peanuts and peanut products until the age of three.

One in three pre-school children are allergic to peanuts, and peanut allergy is the most common food allergy around. For reasons that no one can pinpoint, it's growing at a seemingly exponential rate.

It will be no problem for us to avoid peanuts, and we've noticed that our contemporaries and institutions now avoid peanuts like the plague anyhow.

At least my daughter has so far escaped the fate of her cousin, whose mother had to call an ambulance when she appeared to stop breathing and collapse on her living room floor after eating peanut butter.

But small reactions can lead to more serious reactions; and the most serious reaction can be death - some 150 every year in the US, and a substantial number of hospital admissions in this country too.

So despite my previous chuckles, my wondering at how something as small and salty as a peanut could possibly be such a lethal weapon, I'm now fully on board the no-peanut boat and happy to set sail with everyone else!

- Dita De Boni

Pictured above: They look innocuous enough, but for children with nut allergies this snack could be deadly. Photo / Derek Flynn

Discover more

Lifestyle

<i> Dita De Boni:</i> Sneezing summer in

07 Nov 11:31 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Lifestyle

Premium
Lifestyle

I teach people to sleep for a living - here’s how I ensure I always rest well

01 Jul 06:00 AM
Lifestyle

Iconic Kiwi lolly Jaffa comes to end, quietly discontinued by manufacturer

01 Jul 04:49 AM
Lifestyle

Atlantic diet: The healthy meal plan taking on the Mediterranean diet

01 Jul 12:04 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Lifestyle

Premium
I teach people to sleep for a living - here’s how I ensure I always rest well

I teach people to sleep for a living - here’s how I ensure I always rest well

01 Jul 06:00 AM

Telegraph: How to make the most of your day to get the best forty winks at night.

Iconic Kiwi lolly Jaffa comes to end, quietly discontinued by manufacturer

Iconic Kiwi lolly Jaffa comes to end, quietly discontinued by manufacturer

01 Jul 04:49 AM
Atlantic diet: The healthy meal plan taking on the Mediterranean diet

Atlantic diet: The healthy meal plan taking on the Mediterranean diet

01 Jul 12:04 AM
Premium
Advice: How can we get my ageing stepmother to cull her belongings?

Advice: How can we get my ageing stepmother to cull her belongings?

01 Jul 12:00 AM
Sponsored: Get your kids involved in your reno
sponsored

Sponsored: Get your kids involved in your reno

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP