[intro].

Squeaks and I were just talking about our favorite foods! Some of my favorite foods are pizza and blueberries … and Squeaks really likes french toast!

There are lots of different kinds of foods, some of which you might like, and some that you might not. And that’s okay! Not everyone has to eat the same thing.

But for some people, there are foods that they really can’t eat. Not because they don’t like them, but because it would make them sick or hurt them. That’s because they’re allergic to those foods.

Take, for example … peanut butter! Lots of people are allergic to it. Maybe you’re one of them!

Or there might be someone in your class or your school who can’t eat it. That’s because that person is allergic to peanuts— so they're allergic to peanut butter which is made from peanuts. If they eat those things, they might have what’s called an allergic reaction.

People can have an allergic reaction to almost any kind of food, or even other things, like dust, or bee stings, or dog fur! But all allergies have something in common. They happen because your body thinks the thing you’re allergic to is trying to hurt you. [Squeaks protests].

Yes, you’re right, Squeaks, peanut butter isn’t really trying to hurt you! But if you’re allergic to it, your body thinks it’s dangerous, and that’s what matters. So it activates a part of your body with a super important job: your immune system.

Every single day, the different parts that make up your body’s immune system work together to try and fight off the germs that can make you sick. But in people allergic to peanut butter, the immune system makes a mistake! It treats something that’s in peanut butter the same way it would treat a germ or something else that’s trying to hurt you … … and goes on the attack!

Now, when germs attack a part of your body, that part of your body sends a message to the immune system — and that message is, there’s something attacking us! The immune system uses special chemicals to spread the word about the attack around the rest of the body. These chemicals let other parts of the immune system know that there’s something wrong, so that they’re ready to help fight the germs.

If someone with a peanut allergy eats peanut butter — which again, they should never do — their body releases those chemicals even though it’s not really being attacked. Then, there are lots of things that can happen. Their body’s immune system might try to flood the imaginary attackers out by making lots of mucus, or snot, and making their eyes water.

That might make them cough, or their eyes water and itch, or their skin bumpy and itchy, or give them a bellyache, or worse. It just depends on the person. Sometimes the effects of an allergic reaction will go away by themselves after a little while.

But sometimes it takes a special medicine to help to make the person having the reaction better, and until they get the medicine, the reaction is very dangerous for them. Even a tiny little bit of peanut butter can give someone who’s allergic to it an allergic reaction. So it’s important to listen if someone says they have a peanut butter allergy—or any other kind of food allergy!

All this talk about food makes me feel like getting a snack. Whaddaya say, Squeaks, want to go find some French Toast? Thanks for joining us!

If you want to keep learning and having fun with Squeaks and me all summer — and the rest of the year, too! — hit the subscribe button, and don’t forget to check us out on the YouTube Kids app. We’ll see you next time, here at the Fort! outro.