- Health
Peanut oil isn’t an ingredient in vaccines; doesn’t cause peanut allergies
Key takeaway
Peanut allergies occur when the immune system identifies ingested or inhaled peanuts as harmful to the body. This can trigger an immune response that produces symptoms such as hives, digestive problems, and acute, severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis). While the root cause of peanut allergies is unknown, factors like age, genetics, and other allergies are thought to be responsible.
Reviewed content
Verdict:
Claim:
Peanut allergies are caused by the peanut oil in vaccines
Verdict detail
Factually inaccurate: Peanut oil isn’t an ingredient in vaccines. Risk factors for peanut allergies are unclear, but are commonly linked to age, genetics, and history of other allergies—not consumption of peanut oil.
Misleading: Peanut allergies and peanut oil allergies aren’t one in the same. Some people with peanut allergies may safely consume peanut oil, particularly if it’s the highly-refined variety used in cooking and frying. While peanut oil was used as a vaccine adjuvant ingredient in a clinical trial for an influenza vaccine in the 1960s, this vaccine wasn't approved for public use.
Full Claim
People have peanut allergies “because they’ve been jabbed with peanut oil”; in “1961 they put peanut oil into the jabs and people started developing peanut allergies”
Review
A Facebook reel posted on 22 July 2024 claimed that peanut oil is an ingredient used in vaccines and thus responsible for an increase in peanut allergies over the last half century. It also claimed that peanuts help with illnesses related to “lady parts”, digestion, and the prostate, and that using almonds in place of peanuts creates “rust”, though it failed to explain how or where this rust develops and didn’t provide evidence to support its claims about breast, gastrointestinal, or prostate health.
Matt Roeske, the speaker in the video, is a co-founder of Cultivate Elevate, a company that sells supplements that claim to provide “energy, focus, and vitality”. As Science Feedback explained in a previous claim review, Roeske has made numerous other inaccurate claims in reels posted to the Cultivate Elevate Instagram account, including the baseless claim that viruses don’t actually exist.
We reached out to Roeske for evidence to support the claims regarding the alleged association between peanut consumption and health, and will update this review pending his response.
Peanut oil isn’t an ingredient in vaccines
The reel claimed that people are “having peanut allergies because they’ve been jabbed with peanut oil”, drawing an implicit link between the alleged addition of peanut oil to certain vaccines in 1961 and a subsequent rise in peanut allergies since that time.
However, peanut oil isn’t an ingredient in vaccines. According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia:
“[There is a] notion that oils in vaccines can cause allergic reactions in those who have food sensitivities. Indeed, if someone has a sensitivity to a vaccine component, they may be advised not to get it; however, vaccines do not contain either corn or peanut oils.”
The claim that peanut oil is a vaccine ingredient was also fact-checked by Snopes in 2017. Snopes determined that the origin of the claim stemmed from a 1964 New York Times article in which peanut oil was named as a “key ingredient” in a new influenza vaccine developed by the pharmaceutical company Merck.
But the New York Times article merely reported on the patent for this “key ingredient”, also known as “Adjuvant 65”. The article reported that the Adjuvant 65 was being tested in clinical trials and wasn’t yet approved for public use.
A 2005 publication on the history of adjuvant ingredients in the academic journal Vaccine also explained that pharmaceutical companies only used peanut oil as an adjuvant ingredient in early clinical trials of vaccines during the 1960s[1]. Peanut oil was never used as an adjuvant ingredient in any vaccine approved for public use. Adjuvants are ingredients used in some vaccines that help to create a stronger immune response to the vaccine. Today, the only oil-based ingredient used in vaccine adjuvants is squalene (shark liver oil).
Risk factors for peanut allergies are unclear; people with peanut allergies may not be allergic to peanut oil
According to the Mayo Clinic, peanut allergies are a result of the body mistakenly assuming that ingested or inhaled peanut proteins are harmful, which can cause symptoms such as hives, itching, digestive problems, and in severe cases, anaphylaxis. The Mayo Clinic also shared that it’s unclear exactly what causes peanut allergies, although certain factors like age, genetics, dermatitis, and other pre-existing allergies may put a person at higher risk.
Allergist and immunologist Monica Kraft commented on the peanut allergy and peanut oil connection in a 2023 article for Ohio State Health & Discovery:
“Peanut allergy is caused by an allergic reaction to the peanut protein. Peanut oil is typically safe because it’s highly refined and has almost no detectable allergen (protein). This is the type of peanut oil often used in cooking and frying and is safe for individuals with peanut allergy. […] Unrefined (also known as cold-pressed, crude or gourmet) peanut oil does have peanut protein in it and should be avoided by people with a peanut allergy.”
Conclusion
Peanut oil was only briefly tested as an adjuvant ingredient in vaccines in the 1960s. It was never approved as an ingredient for public use in vaccines and isn’t an ingredient in vaccines today. Further, there isn’t evidence to support that peanut oil causes peanut allergies; rather, risk for peanut allergy may instead be linked to factors like age, genetics, and other allergies.
REFERENCES
- 1 – Aucouturier et al. (2006) The use of oil adjuvants in therapeutic vaccines. Vaccine.
