A few years ago, a scary story made international news: A 15-year-old girl had apparently died from an allergic reaction after being kissed by her peanut-butter-loving boyfriend. Amid headlines (such as Girl Dies in Peanut-Butter Kiss), a Canadian allergy group began planning a big awareness campaign, and the millions of people with severe food allergies added intimacy to the long list of things they worried about.
But a funny thing happened on the way to a full-fledged smooching panic. The Quebec-based coroner who investigated the girl’s death reported the cause was not anaphylaxis related to her boyfriend’s peanut-butter-laced kiss. In fact, the teen had died from an unrelated asthma attack.
Still, it raised the question: When you have a food allergy, can a show of affection turn into the kiss of death?
My severely allergic son is too young to be soliciting smooches from the little redhead at his peanut-free day care. But it strikes fear into my heart to think that the peanut butter cups I steal from my daughter’s Halloween stash could lead to a dangerous peck good night for Graeme.
So, I dug up the research and discovered that my fears are not baseless: You can cause a serious allergic reaction with such contact. Scientists have been studying the topic for years and here’s what they’ve found.
• In a 2003 survey, 12% of respondents reported allergic symptoms after coming in close contact (including kissing) with a person who had eaten an offending food item prior to touching them.
• A woman with shellfish allergies checked in to the Mayo Clinic’s emergency room with an anaphylactic reaction after kissing her shrimp-eating boyfriend. The unusual case prompted the venerable medical institute to produce a case study and warn people with food allergies.
• In a 2002 study at the University of California Davis, 20 patients—mostly teenagers—reported kissing-related reactions in a review of 379 food-induced allergy cases. Nearly all the reactions were to peanuts or tree nuts, and only one was considered life-threatening.
After the Canadian teen’s death, a group of doctors in New York tested the presence of allergens in the saliva of nonallergic subjects who had consumed peanut butter.
Next page: What the scientists found
Comments (3)
my daughter is severely allergic to peanuts. We found out when she was a baby and my husband had eaten a pb&j sandwich hours before a good night kiss. My daughter was immediately covered in hives from head to toe. Even today, when my husband eats PB, he will take a shower, scrub his face and brush his teeth. My daughter will still have a reaction!!
My long-suffering husband has been denied his beloved PB for ten years now because of my allergy. In that time he`s had a snickers bar once, and then only because he was travelling without me(probably the best candy bar he`s ever had). My son has never been exposed to a peanut, so we don`t even know if he`s inherited the allergy, we just treat him as if he is.
And this is the new problem. The first big wave of allergic kids are growing up and having kids of their own. Many of these children are not allergic. All it would take is junior coming home from a playdate and sneaking a sip of my pop, and I`m done for.
thats gay i mean really who cares its food live with it the worst it could do is give you a rash