Food Allergies: Good Info For All, Even Ones That Don't Get It

[ilovetivo]

I'm glad you're seing an allergist. Sounds like dd may be experiencing symtoms already. She's definitly at risk. I'd ask them that question, for sure.

W/ age: Other people can chime in and i don't have time right now to get the specifics, but here's what I know. They're reasearching what genes a person has in relation to allergies. They think some may have the gene for it, some may have the gene to outgrow it, and some may not. They don't know who will do what yet.

I think the age 5 thing is being discussed and starting to recommended recently for non-fa kids. For us, we were told age 5 for peanut/treenut/fish/shellfish. Those allergies are much harder to outgrow.

I believe child's body can't tell that the food is safe for them until they're older. It's not developed enough. Exposures of the allergen sensitize the child to that food and they may become allergic to it. You can go to the www.aaaai.org to look into it further. American Acadamy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology.

On http://www.aaaai.org/aadmc/ate/category.asp?cat=1057 you can do a search for food allergy related questions on their "ask and expert" section.

When i typed in "introduction age" the first post that came up (9/26/06 date) was about the taking away an allergen already tolerated if into'd before the recommended age...as was asked on another thread.

Dr. Robert Zeiger an expert in food allergy avoidance measures says there's some evidence that stopping peanuts, that is well tollerated, for a long time " may predispose to an allergic reaction when re-exposure occurs". The responding expert (Dr. Scott Sicherer I think - another major expert) says "this does not mean that peanuts would have to be eaten daily. However, one should not go many months without eating some peanut-containing food." Dr. Zeiger says " With assessed risk of allergy, the optimal age for the introduction of selected supplemental foods should be 6 months, dairy products 12 months, hen's egg 24 months, and peanut, tree nuts, fish, and seafood at least 36 months."

[ilovetivo]

Good article

http://chicagoparent.com/main.asp?Se...37&TM=1779.046

Chicago Parent
Testing Thomas: How food allergies affect families and what is being done about

[ilovetivo]

http://www.foodallergyproject.org/videopage4.html An amazing 12 minute online video from the Food Allergy Project (box on the right). It talks about all aspect of food allergies with parent, child, and medical professional interviews. A MUST SEE.

The Food Allergy Project http://www.foodallergyproject.org/ is an phenomenal organization founded, and funded, by a Chicago mom and dad whose 2 children have life threanening food allergies. David and Denise bunning were fed up with there not being enough funding for food allergy research. They believe that a cure is within reach (5-10 yrs) and will not stop fighting until there's a cure.
The Food Allergy Project's two primary goals:
-To increase the federal resources dedicated to food allergy research
-To fund scientific studies that will lead to cure for food allergy
The Food Allergy Project is financially self-sustaining and no membership dues are collected. On their website, you can add your name to their list of supporters. Their website has food allergy facts, resources, research, news articles, how to contact your representatives.

Denise also started our local support group MOCHA - Mothers of Children Having Allergies www.mochallergies.org. It's been so successful, that several branches have been formed in Chicagoland area.

The Bunnings also are in charge of the Children's Memorial Food Allergy study. http://www.childrensmrc.org/allergy/study/ Families with and without food allergies can participate. They still need lots of families from both sides. The study is multinational I believe will be the first of it's kind to factor in what moms eat during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

[Hippoharbor]

Thank you for reading my post and being so understanding. I never understand why parents give me grief when I politely ask them to remove food from these restricted areas. If it was their child, they certainly would want the same.

Michelle

[Hippoharbor]

Unfortunately, non-food items are not required to list the top eight allergens. I thank God for the allergy boards on the internet so that I can learn about the hidden dangers, such as the peanut in aquafresh toothpaste!

Michelle

[Hippoharbor]

Unfortunately, non-food items are not required to list the top eight allergens. I thank God for the allergy boards on the internet so that I can learn about the hidden dangers, such as the peanut in aquafresh toothpaste!

Michelle

[ilovetivo]

And nut oils in Cetaphil lotions (not the cream cleanser). Not sure if i posted this here or on the other thread

[ilovetivo]

http://www.cornallergens.com/list/co...ergen-list.php
Here's just a sampling from the link - there's too many to count. 100 maybe? I'm not up on the corn info so i don't know if these for sure are corn or may have corn. Corn doesn't have to be listed in the labels w/ the FDA regulations

anything with the word corn or malt
different sugars
Sweeteners & flavorings
Alcohol
Ascorbic acid
Baking powder
Bleached flour
Calcium citrate
Caramel and caramel color
Citric acid
Dextrose (also found in IV solutions)
Food starch
Fruit juice concentrate
Glucosamine
Gluten
Glycerin
Hydrolyzed vegetable protein
Lecithin
Malic acid
Modified food starch
MSG
Olestra/Olean
Saccharin
Salt (iodized salt)
Vanilla
Vegetable anything that's not specific
Vinegar, distilled white
Xanthan Gum

[ilovetivo]

You can order great How Do Read A Label documents for the top 8 allergens from FAAN
www.foodallergy.org in 1 document, fridge magents, & business cards

Anything that says the following things in the word/phrase:
casein or caseinate
non-dairy, probably still has dairy
butter (not cocoa butter)
cream (not cream of tarter)
cheese
curds
whey
milk
lacto- or lacta-

ETA: Kosher or Kosher parve/pareave items can still have enough dairy in them to cause a reaction in an allergic person. There's a certain percentage of dairy that the Kosher lasw allow. Kosher symbol w/ D or DE have dairy on the lines or in the product

A sampling from http://www.foodyoucaneat.com/food/Re...bels_dairy.php
ghee
half & half
lactalbumin
lactate
lactose monohydratelactose monohydrate
potassium caseinate
ready sponge
rennet casein
sour cream
sour milk solids
whey protein concentrate
yogurt

These might contain dairy:
caramel color & flavoring
natural enzymes & flavoring
spices
bath products (shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc.)
gum
juice
hotdogs, luncheon meat (especially from the deli counter - shared machines)
medications (rx and over the counter)
popsicles
pop
margarine
anything from a salad bar

[ilovetivo]

A sampling from http://www.foodyoucaneat.com/food/ReadingLabels_egg.php

Albumin - anything with word albu in it
Anything with the word egg in it
Anything with the word ovo in it (ovalbumin, ovovitellin...)
Binder
Coagulant
Emulsifier
Globulin
Lecithin
Livetin
Lysozyme
Vitellin