Pregnant moms who eat the most nuts have kids with the fewest nut allergies!

They build up immunity?

Allergies are not viruses, Panda! I think the theory is that allergies develop in response to things that the body considers threatening, often in children because it has not been exposed to those things enough. That's why all this cleanliness and weird diets seems to be leading to an explosion in allergies for American children.

So "cleanliness is next to godliness" should be "cleanliness is next to allegic".

The article backs up what you're saying:

The kids whose mothers ate the most nuts were the least likely to develop nut allergies, the study found. As long as the mothers weren't allergic to nuts, eating five or more servings a week seemed to give their children a higher tolerance for nut allergens, said the researchers, who were based in Boston.

Nuts studied were peanuts and tree nuts, including walnuts, almonds, pistachios, cashews, pecans, hazelnuts, macadamias and Brazil nuts.

anecdotal example:  My grandma grew up a sharecropper in Arkansas... no allergies. All her children and grandchildren (incl me) with no farm experience practically live off of antihistamines.... also I just realized I forgot about 106 tonite... crap

I keep hearing stories like your grandma's. I think there's something to it.

And yeah, missed you tonight.

By the way, there is still much debate as to whether food allergies can cause death.

This article claims that actual food allergy deaths are statistically insignificant:

http://pandawhale.com/post/19370/harpers-peanut-allergy-author-meredith-broussard-says-food-allergy-deaths-are-statistically-insignificant

Though not statistically relevant as a sampling of 1, I would say that I ate nuts or nut butters throughout both my pregnancies and neither of my kids are allergic to nuts.  

Juls, thanks for sharing.