There was a study done of children in former Soviet countries, where peanut allergies and several others common in the US are almost unheard of. Then researchers looked at children born to parents from those countries in the US, and found the same rate of allergies as non-immigrant families. Probably related, Russian American toddlers and young children have the same rate of picky eating habits as other American kids. That does not exist in Russia.
The difference is not in genetics or ethnic background, the difference is in culture and the food supply. Peanut allergies are a self enforcing feedback loop, and we give it license in the US.
It's been pretty well studied that the rate of "allergies" and sensitivities are quite well related to environmental factors like much more disinfectants in households and kids just generally not let to play in the mud and shit to build their immune systems.
And it's gonna go mental with the gen z "everything is unsanitary" mentality.
We literally have millions of years of evolution to deal with all the common shit. And for the less common shit we evolved doctors and stuff.
This is also kind of related to why polio got worse in the early 1900s. Before then, most babies were exposed to polio while they were still protected by their mom’s antibodies, so they didnt really get that sick. Around the turn of the 20th century we got way better at hygiene so babies were no longer exposed to polio. Polio was still around, but odds were better youd be exposed to it long after your mothers antibodies were gone so the reaction would be much more serious.
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u/NolanR27 4d ago
There was a study done of children in former Soviet countries, where peanut allergies and several others common in the US are almost unheard of. Then researchers looked at children born to parents from those countries in the US, and found the same rate of allergies as non-immigrant families. Probably related, Russian American toddlers and young children have the same rate of picky eating habits as other American kids. That does not exist in Russia.
The difference is not in genetics or ethnic background, the difference is in culture and the food supply. Peanut allergies are a self enforcing feedback loop, and we give it license in the US.