Oh Soy! The Soy Question for Peanut Allergy Sufferers

Avoiding Peanuts? I’ve got it! Keeping my son away from peanuts has become such a part of my life that even when my son is grown and moved out, I will still probably never eat a peanut, peanut product, or anything cross contaminated with peanuts!

We are diligent where we eat, carry both the Epi Pen and Benadryl with us everywhere we go (even if I am running in the bank with him to make a deposit!), let the restaurant know about his peanut allergy, eat most of the time at home, and I give training to anyone that will be watching him.

But, once I got everything squared away, feeling confident about our level of preparation and Emergency Action Plan with the peanut allergy, I read about the dangers of soy for people with peanut allergies (of course!). What? I had never, in my life, thought about avoiding soy. My son drank soy milk because he had a milk allergy. When he had his skin test, soy showed no reaction. But these stories I was reading really frightened me. A few children with peanut allergies and no previous reaction to soy were having violent reactions to it without warning. I was really torn on what to.

So, I simply decided to eliminate as much soy as possible without losing concentration on his peanut allergy. The risk seems to be very small with the soy. But so is the risk of getting in a car accident driving down the street, and we use our seatbelts and car seats when we do that!

I threw away anything in my house that contained soy. Yet, I did not throw away anything that was simply processed in a facility with soy (on the other hand, I do not buy or serve anything that may be contaminated with peanuts. See Cross Contamination).

Pre packaged Rice Krispie treats had soy in them. But, the cereal didn’t (or at least the generic didn’t). So, I whipped up my own. Honestly, I didn’t even measure the margarine and marshmallows so it was a breeze! I ditched the Hamburger Helper with soy and instead mixed hamburger meat with macaroni to make my own version of Cheeseburger Helper. I made my own spaghetti. The thing that hurt was the Nutri Grain Bars. I have been buying them at Sam’s b/c my son loves them. Thankfully, Enjoy Life makes an allergy free one. They are double the price and I can’t buy them in bulk. But it’s a small sacrifice for his extra safety and my peace of mind!

When I threw away my soy products, I saw it actually wasn’t that much and I could find a replacement for most things I did throw away. So, at this point, it doesn’t’ seem we will be missing out on any of our favorite foods.

I have decided to continue only informing the waiter about my son’s peanut allergy when we go out to eat. I am not going to talk about soy because I know peanuts can kill my son within minutes. The chances of him turning anaphylactic towards soy are slim. I want the waiter and chef to concentrate on the peanut allergy and risk of cross contamination with them. The Epi Pen and Benadryl and cell phone will still always be attached to our side in case something does happen so I feel confident doing this.

At this point, the changes haven’t that hard so we will continue with this plan until more information comes out on this.

I Didn't Order Peanuts With That - The Cross Contamination Risk for Peanut Allergies

Here is something you will never hear from a person with peanut allergy, “sure – I’ll have some peanuts on that sundae!” Yet there are 150 deaths a year in the United States alone from peanut allergies and 1/3 of all peanut allergy sufferers will have a fatal or near fatal reaction in their lifetime. As a mother of a son with this allergy, the numbers are frightening. So, people, ask yourselves, why that ratio is so high when all the person has to do is avoid peanuts?

Cross Contamination

Many people with this allergy and their families understand this is the real risk. Between 1/200-1/1000 of a piece of a peanut is enough to put a person with a peanut allergy in anaphylactic shock.

But many restaurant workers, school and daycare employees, and (sigh) other parents don’t know this. I don’t blame them. I didn’t until I spent hundreds of hours researching the topic. I didn’t even know this after I visited the allergist, got my son tested, and was given a prescription for an Epi Pen. No one told me. In fact, I took my son to a buffet and gave him a chocolate chip cookie from it the week he was diagnosed! I remember thinking to myself, all he has to do is not eat the peanut butter cookies. The chocolate chip is fine. Looking back, I committed two major sins in the food allergy world: buffets and baked goods! The other one is Asian Food.

Why are these so dangerous?

In a buffet, you have not one chef touching your food before you get it, but hundreds of people coming in contact with your food. They are carrying their plate around which could have something with peanuts on it and some could fly into the baked chicken! Also – utensils. How many times have you been to a buffet, and the spoon for the potatoes is sitting in the green beans? It could happen with a peanut product. So, sadly, when a peanut allergy sufferer goes to Vegas, they are going to have skip those big buffets Vegas is known for! Well, maybe it will give them more time to lose some more money, the other thing Vegas is known for!

Asian Food – more people have had reactions at Asian Food places than anywhere else. I can’t give a medical reason why. But, don’t worry. I’ll give my researched reasons. The first is that Asian food uses peanut sauce or peanut products in many of their dishes. Basically, you have many products being prepared in the back that contain peanuts. So, chances are going to be higher that some will get in a peanut allergy person’s food. Second, peanut allergies are practically unheard of in Asia. So, if you tell a waiter at an Asian restaurant that you have a peanut allergy, they may not quite grasp the severity of your condition, leave with your order, and not tell the chef anything.

Bakeries – read practically any baked good and it will tell you it is cross contaminated with peanuts and tree nuts. Bakeries make fudge and what goes on top of fudge? Peanuts. Bakeries make peanut butter cookies, peanut butter and fudge brownies, and peanut butter is even used in some chocolate chip recipes. So, if you have a peanut allergy, grab some flour, sugar, and eggs at your local supermarket and make your own cookies and cake! Use the money you saved from buying an overpriced pre-made one to hire a housekeeper to clean up the mess you made baking one. Isn’t that more fun anyway?

Peanut allergy sufferers and their families also need to learn to be excellent speed readers as we need to read every single label of anything we buy at the supermarket, even if we have bought it one hundred times before! It is amazing what can be cross contaminated. The most interesting I have found was fruit snacks. I always buy fruit snacks for my son. They are normally a safe food. But once while visiting a friend, they had a different brand of fruit snacks and offered one to us. My first instinct was simply to let my son have it. After all, it’s FRUIT SNACKS. Safe, right? Well, my bionic peanut allergy mom senses kicked in and asked to read the package before I let him have it. Sure enough, it said it was cross contaminated with peanuts.

Also, read the labels of things you have bought before. Companies change manufacturing processes, outsource products, and add products to their line all their time. Everyone wants a buck right? Well, they don’t advertise it because, well, most of the world will not really care if your favorite safe brand of sherbet is now made next to their new extra peanutty rocky road. So, it’s up to you. Read the labels. Things change.

Okay, the chances aren’t 1:1 that if you eat a food that may be contaminated, you will have a reaction. Honestly, they are low. But, most of deaths and near deaths from peanut allergies are from people who took the chance. Why risk it? Death isn’t fun and neither is the hospital if you are lucky enough to be saved. And, when you get that very large hospital bill, you will be asking yourself, “was that one piece of cake really worth this 10K hospital bill”.