Dangerous Peanut Kisses?

Although the recent reports of the peanut-implicated kissing death of a Canadian teen has since been attributed to other causes after a coroner's examination, such a danger might actually exist, according to a new study presented on March 8, 2006 at the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) in Miami Beach, FL.

Jennifer M. Maloney, MD, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, and colleagues conducted a study to find out how much peanut allergen remained in the saliva after eating peanuts. The study also measured the level of peanut allergen in saliva after people brushed their teeth. First, 10 people ate a sandwich containing two tablespoons of peanut butter; their saliva was collected at different times after the meal. For the second phase of the test, samples were collected following peanut-butter consumption and again immediately after cleaning the teeth. Researchers found that all subjects had undetectable allergen levels within approximately four hours without any intervention, and that one hour after the meal, the level in saliva from six of the seven subjects was undetectable. However, cleaning or rinsing the teeth after eating the meal didn't immediately drop the allergen levels down to below detection.

The study concluded that practical advice for those with peanut-allergic mates may include brushing teeth, plus waiting a number of hours before kissing, but added that a larger group must be studied before issuing any recommendations.

Previous anecdotal reports by people allergic to nuts have indicated relatively mild allergic reactions may have occurred after they received kisses from those eating nuts. The April 1999 Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology estimated that 1% of the U.S. population, nearly 3 million Americans, is allergic to peanuts or tree nuts, and might risk developing life-threatening anaphylactic reactions. Scott H. Sicherer, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and a researcher in the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute, estimates that 100 to 150 people in the United States die each year from peanut allergies.