The big debate: Tree Nut Allergy VS. Peanut Allergy. Which one sucks more?

My son is allergic to tree nuts (and as all us allergy moms know, tree nuts do not include peanuts). Unfortunately, most of the world thinks they are one and the same, which normally would not really matter much. Just as it doesn’t matter that most of the world believe an avocado is a vegetable, when in fact it’s a fruit. No big deal there.

However, if your child is allergic to tree nuts and not to peanuts – then it kind of does matter! As a matter of fact, I find the whole peanut/tree nut confusion thing to be majorly annoying for a few reasons.

First of all, it irks me that peanut allergies get all the attention. I mean tree nut allergies are just as severe and life threatening and as common as peanut allergies, but somehow all you hear is peanut allergy this and peanut allergy that.

And because of all the attention the peanut gets, everyone assumes my non-peanut allergic son can’t have peanuts because of his tree nut allergy. When I inform them of Ben’s tree nut allergy, nine times of out 10, they’ll say to me, “Don’t worry I’ll keep him away from the peanut butter.” UGH! Ben can eat peanut butter until the cows come home; it’s your GRANOLA bars and NUTELLA that will make him puke all over your kitchen floor and then wheeze, break out in hives and cause his throat to close! 

That’s when I have to explain that he’s actually not allergic to peanuts but to TREE NUTS, which usually returns a blank, clueless stare. I then have to elaborate, sharing that a tree nut is a nut that grows on trees – like almonds and walnuts and cashews. A peanut, on the other hand, is a legume and not actually a nut. THEY. ARE. DIFFERENT. (By the way, this always makes me feel like a first grade teacher. Ugh!)

Sometimes I skip the speech, because I just don’t have it in me, and I don’t even mention that he’s not allergic to peanuts. I simply remind them that he can’t have ANY type of nut. Period.

And maybe I’m being silly, but it seems to me that a peanut allergy is an allergy to ONE thing, while tree nut allergy folks have to contend with DOZENS of allergens. Almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, cashews, pecans… the list goes on and on, which brings me to my next point…

Nuts are in SO MANY more foods than peanuts, and because there are a lot of different nuts, it narrows my kid’s food choices. We have to be extra careful around cereals, flavored coffees, baked goods and even baking mixes, but I’ll stop there before we’re here all day.

I know my peanut allergy friends would beg to differ – they have to contend with peanut oil showing up in the most unusual places. So in short, I admit that having either allergy REALLY sucks, so tell me, just out of curiosity, which do you think sucks the most – a peanut allergy or a tree nut allergy?

Iris

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