Coping with Food Allergies - Part 1

Today’s blog posting was written by Kelly Harrington, MS, RD who has practiced as a Registered Dietitian since July 2000. Kelly has worked in renal nutrition and pediatric and maternal nutrition. Her most recent position was the Registered Dietitian Manager for the Mountain Park Health Center Women, Infants and Children Program where she managed four Registered Dietitians. Her time spent working with families specifically targeted helping infants born premature or at a low birth weight, and children with developmental delays, autism, food allergies, genetic disorders, obesity, and picky eaters. Thus, over the years she has developed a strong interest in assisting individuals of all ages who have food allergies. Kelly also owns and operates her own private practice, where she works with individuals and families towards achieving their health and wellness goals.

Imagine having to dissect the food label of every food product you want to put into your mouth, and upon dissecting that label, needing to understand the derivative of every single ingredient listed! It would be difficult, tedious and frustrating, but absolutely necessary for someone with a food allergy. Food allergies are a growing concern in the United States as approximately 1 in 25 people and 1 in 100 children suffer from a food allergy. Among these children, 0-5 year olds have the highest food allergy rate, affecting boys and girls evenly. According to The National Center for Health Statistics, food allergies among children have unfortunately increased by 18% from 1997 to 2007. This also correlates to an increase in the number of visits to ambulatory care clinics due to adverse allergic reactions, which all parents know is stressful, scary, tiresome and costly!

More than 160 foods are known to cause food allergies. Surprisingly eight foods account for 90% of all food-allergic reactions:

•Milk
•Egg
•Peanuts
•Tree nuts (walnuts, cashews)
•Fish (pollock, salmon, cod, tuna, snapper, eel, and tilapia)
•Shellfish (shrimp, crayfish, lobster, crab)
•Soy
•Wheat

Manufacturers are required to state on the food label if the product contains protein from any of the top eight allergens; for example, the label will say, “this product contains milk.” Manufacturers may also indicate if the food was made in a facility that contains these allergens, but this is not yet mandatory. Overwhelming? Being a parent can be challenging, let alone being the parent of a child with a food allergy. There are so many things to think about! On the other hand, there are also steps a parent can take to ease the transition into this new way of life.

First, understanding what ingredients indicate a specific food allergen is very important. To expand your food label reading capability, take a look at the links below. The links name ingredients to avoid based on your child’s specific allergy. Don’t worry about memorizing all those hard to pronounce ingredients! You can print your list and use it as a reference while you shop.

As your child grows older, another extremely important aspect of coping with a food allergy is teaching your little one about their food allergy. Of course, your child’s age will determine the skill and information you give them, so start with the basics. Gradually increase the information so they are eventually able to manage their food choices on their own.

The more you know about your child’s allergy, the easier it will be to manage & increase the variety in your family’s diet, prepare meals, and prevent unwanted reactions.

Please stay tuned for the next blog posting as we will be discussing more on food allergies!

For more information on hidden milk ingredients, please visit:
http://www.foodallergy.org/page/milk2

For more information on hidden egg ingredients, please visit:
http://www.foodallergy.org/page/egg1

For more information on hidden peanut ingredients, please visit:
http://www.foodallergy.org/page/peanut1

For more information on hidden tree nut ingredients, please visit:
http://www.foodallergy.org/page/tree-nut

For more information on hidden soy ingredients, please visit:
http://www.foodallergy.org/page/soy2

For more information on hidden wheat ingredients, please visit:
http://www.foodallergy.org/page/wheat2

For more information on hidden fish and shellfish ingredients, please visit:
http://www.foodallergy.org/page/shellfish2