I thought peanut butter was the perfect food — but peanut allergies rise

From my earliest memories back in the 1950s (yes, I am that old), I remember eating peanut butter. Of course, peanut butter wasn’t my first food, but it had to have been an early addition to my diet. I can clearly remember as a very young pre-schooler enjoying a treat with my Mom: She would make us both peanut butter and honey (or even just sugar) sandwiches that we’d eat together lying across the bed looking at comic books.

Now I understand doctors are warning parents not to introduce peanuts into kids’ diets too early, because that might lead to peanut allergy problems. The same study tells me the peanut allergies have doubled in the last 10 years.

I am astounded. I have no scientific training or background that qualifies me to understand or explain such studies. I still make peanut butter a major part of my diet. And the only food I can imagine that’s as “American” as apple pie would be — peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

The study makes some good points. For one thing, giving kids peanuts or peanut butter when they’re too young and they can’t communicate with you if the allergens might be irritating their mouths or throats. So that seems a sensible reason to hold off until the children are able to talk about a bad food reaction.

I still don’t understand why peanut allergies have doubled in the last decade. And as a peanut lover, that concerns me. Is there a risk that I could open a jar of Jif and suddenly find, after all these years, that I’m now allergic??

I don’t get it. Ah, well, what do I know? I’m just a guy who reads the papers.

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