A Study About Food Allergies And Children

07 Mar

Food allergies and children have been making headlines recently. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported that food allergies are on the rise, with around 3 million children suffering with a shellfish, milk, egg, wheat or peanut allergy. This is an 18% increase since 1997, the center reports. As a parent you may feel alarmed and wonder what you can do to prevent this fate from befalling your precious baby. While there is little evidence, aside from old wives' tales that allergies can be prevented, researchers are finding better ways to identify allergens and possibly treat them. In this article, you will read about the latest kids food allergy research.

"Children Can Complete Treatment For Peanut Allergies And Achieve Long-Term Tolerance, Studies Suggest," reads a Science Daily headline. Duke University Medical Center doctors have been studying food allergies in children for a long time. At the beginning of the monitored clinical tests, participants with this type of nut allergy couldn't even tolerate one sixth of a peanut, yet within six months they were eating 13 to 15 peanuts before a reaction occurred. Nine of the thirty-three children in the study have been on maintenance therapy for over 2.5 years; of these children, 4 can now eat peanuts freely. "It appears these children have lost their allergies," explains Wesley Burks, MD. "This gives other parents and children hope that we'll soon have a safe, effective treatment that will halt allergies to certain foods. We see initial desensitization effects of the treatment are real," Burks says. "Those children are now able to eat up to 15 peanuts with no reaction, but the children not on treatment have symptoms early on in the study."

An August 2009 food allergies and children headline reads, "Milk May Be Safe, Even Encouraged, For Some Children After Treatment For Milk Allergy." This is big news, considering that milk is the most prevalent kid food allergy, researchers from John Hopkins said. The follow-up study tracked 18 children (ages 6-16) whose severe milk allergies had eased or disappeared. Their allergic reactions grew milder and milder over time. "We now have evidence from other studies that some children once successfully treated remain allergy-free even without daily exposure, while in others the allergies return once they stop regular daily exposure to milk," says Robert Wood, M.D. "This may mean that some patients are truly cured of their allergy, while in others the immune system adapts to regular daily exposure to milk and may, in fact, need the exposure to continue to tolerate it," he adds.

"Food Scientist Develops Process for Allergen-Free Peanuts, According to Lab." The difficult part about dealing with food allergies and children is sometimes explaining to the child why he or she cannot eat something that may be so tasty. A number of parents note that their children show positive results for having peanut allergies, so they wish to shelter them from this potentially toxic food. Doug Speight of the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University reports that his work has shown 100% inactivation of peanut allergens in whole-roasted kernels and the processed peanuts showed no reaction in human serum tests from the extremely allergic. "We are extremely pleased that we were able to find such a simple solution to a vexing problem that has enormous economic and public health ramifications, both for peanut sensitive individuals, and the food industry as a whole," reports Ahmedna, whose product is currently being developed.

Beth Kaminski is the co-author of Curing Your Anxiety And Panic Attacks which detailed panic attacks help as well as tips on the various medications for panic disorder available at www.anxietydisordercure.com.