Groundnut

If you have no allergy for groundnut, it is a very good food for everybody including the persons who have heart problems as well as diabetes. Using groundnuts without salt is the best, but healthy people may use little salt.

Nobody knows the exact reason for groundnut allergy, a protein may be the culprit and young children are the risk group. Adults do not develop this allergy. It is unfortunate, but the experts believe that there may be no allergy if the children do not consume groundnut till they become 4 years and after that the allergy will not develop.

The nutrients in 100 g edible groundnuts include:

• Water – 5.2 g
• Protein – 25.3 g
• Fat – 48.1 g
• Carbohydrates – 7.5 g
• Organic acids – Salicylic acid 1.1 mg
• Fibre – 11.7 g
• Minerals - 2.2 g – sodium 11 mg, potassium 660 mg, magnesium 160 mg, calcium 40 mg, iron 1800 micro g, copper 765 micro g, zinc 2800 micro g, selenium 6 micro g, iodide 13 micro g.
• Vitamins - vitamins A, B1, B6, nicotine amide, pantothenic acid, Biotin, folic acid, vitamin E
• Purine – 80 mg

Groundnut has no cholesterol; all plant foods have no cholesterol. Moreover, the recent research says that groundnut consumption may reduce the blood cholesterol. Because of the high fat content we must be careful with weight gain, otherwise could be used everyday.

Normally we eat fried groundnuts and here we can see the values of this.

The nutrients in 100 g fried and unsalted edible groundnuts include:

• Water – 1.6 g
• Protein – 25.6 g
• Fat – 49.4 g
• Carbohydrates – 9.4 g
• Organic acids – Salicylic acid not available
• Fibre – 11.4 g
• Minerals - 2.6 g – sodium 6 mg, potassium 775 mg, magnesium 180 mg, calcium 65 mg, iron 2300 micro g, copper 610 micro g, zinc 3400 micro g, selenium 1 micro g, iodide 14 micro g.
• Vitamins - vitamins B1, B6, nicotine amide, pantothenic acid, vitamin E
• Purine – not available

Minerals, particularly selenium varies with their concentration in the soil.

Instead of a full meal 50 t0 70 g fried and unsalted groundnuts, salad and fruits are the best food for health and eight reduction. Rice or wheat is not always necessary.

Allergies

Allergies are not normal reactions of the immune system to substances which are harmless to most of the people. If you are allergic to some substances, your immune system mistakenly believes that this is harmful to your body, it produces IgE antibodies to that substance, called allergen which in turn cause certain cells in your body to release substances into your blood, and the important one is histamine.

Histamine is responsible for the allergic symptoms, it acts then on your eyes, nose, throat, lungs, skin or gastrointestinal tract and causes the allergic reactions. Every time if you come in contact with that same allergen, you will have an allergic reaction.

The common allergies are:

Food allergy – it is increasing. In food intolerance for example lactose intolerance, your immune system does not play a role.

Drugs allergy, prescribed, over-the-counter and also plant medicines in allopathy and in all the other traditional medicine – a drug allergy is a wrong immune system reaction to a drug

Dust allergy – any dust, particularly dust from roadside affects your health very much

Dust mite allergy – dust mites are micro organisms which are found plenty in our bed or home, eating your dead skin cells and living in bedding, furnishings and carpets. Their faeces and decaying bodies mixed and dried with dust become airborne. It is not harmful if you are not allergic, if not, they can cause bothersome allergic reactions.

Mould allergy – when you come in contact with mould spores, your body recognizes them as foreign invaders and develops antibodies to fight them. Histamine is released in your body which cause the symptoms itchy, watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing and other allergic symptoms.

Groundnut allergy – groundnut allergy is common and often appears in the first years of life, but unlike milk, egg allergy, most of the children do not outgrow groundnut allergy as they get older.

Penicillin allergy – penicillin allergy occurs when your immune system recognizes it as a harmful substance.

Shellfish allergy – it is one of the most common food allergies and it can affect children also. Shellfish includes shrimp, lobster, clams, octopus and squid

Soya bean allergy – your immune system identifies certain Soya proteins as harmful and after that the procedure is the same as earlier.

Wheat allergy – Wheat is one of the most common allergy causing foods and children are often attacked than the adults. Here the villain is gluten.

Hay fever – your immune system mistakenly identifies a harmless airborne substance as something harmful. These are seasonal or round the year allergies, tree pollen in the spring, grass pollen common in late spring and summer, weed pollen common in the fall and spores from fungi and moulds in the warm-weather months. The year-round hay fever is triggered by dust, dander, dried skin flaks from pet animals and spores from indoor and outdoor fungi or moulds.

Nickel contact allergy – nickel is an essential element, but the problem is the contact allergy. Nickel may be in several products such as fashion jewelleries, coins, eyeglass frames, belts etc.

Latex allergy – it is an allergic reaction to certain proteins found in natural rubber latex, a product manufactured from the milky fluid from the rubber tree from Southeast Asia and Africa.

Chronic hives – hives, also known as urticaria, are batches of raised, red or white wheals of various sizes, which appear and disappear. Mostly they disappear within few weeks and for some people it is a long term problems.

Pet allergy – it is also one of the most common allergies from dogs, cats, birds, hamsters etc. Remember, it is not the fur or feather causes the allergic reaction, but the small and invisible flakes of animal skin is the villain here.

Remember, any other substance can also bring allergic reactions to you, if you observe and remember everything, it is easy to find out this new allergen, unfortunately if you have allergy to a substance, you may have also allergic reactions to many other substances.

The best things to avoid allergies are to avoid the allergy producing substances, if it is not possible like in the cases of air pollution or pollen, medication may be necessary, contact an allergy specialist to get the maximum help.