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Food Allergies In the News
New Food Allergy Policy Under Review
By Pam Johnson
Published Monday, June 11, 2012 12:00 am
Shore Publishing
Members of Branford-based Food Allergy Education Network (in audience) attended the June 6 meeting of the Board of Education Teaching and Learning Committee to find out how they can give input to help develop a new food allergy management plan and guidelines policy. Development of the policy will lead to written regulations of practices to be implemented by Branford Public Schools. Members of Branford-based Food Allergy Education Network (in audience) attended the June 6 meeting of the Board of Education Teaching and Learning Committee to find out how they can give input to help develop a new food allergy management plan and guidelines policy. Development of the policy will lead to written regulations of practices to be implemented by Branford Public Schools.
On June 6, a boilerplate draft policy of public school Food Allergy Management Plan and Guidelines was distributed to members of the Teaching and Learning Committee of the Board of Education (BOS) and shared with several very interested members of Branford-based Food Allergy Education Network (FAEN).
Over the coming weeks, members of FAEN will review the policy and FAEN founder Gina Lee will give their input to Superintendent of Schools Hamlet Hernandez. The BOS committee will then discuss revisions to the policy at its August meeting.
The goal is to develop a new policy that best meets the needs, abilities, and priorities of Branford Public Schools (BPS). From that policy, which will need to be approved by the full BOS, regulations will then be developed in written form and put in place, said Hernandez. The hope is to have the policy approved by the full BOS sometime in the early fall of 2012.
Schools are currently operating on a "best practices" level to assist individual students identified as at risk due to food allergies, said Hernandez.
"The best practices are local practices which may not necessarily be written down right now, but the intention of this is to raise awareness and to codify those best practices in the form of regulations. That's the ultimate outcome of this process," said Hernandez.
The policy document distributed on June 6, prepared by Shipman & Goodwin, LLC, recognizes that food allergies may be life threatening and outlines strategies and practices to minimize the risk of accidental exposure to life-threatening food allergens. The policy also calls for ensuring prompt and effective medical response and recognizes the importance of collaborating with parents and appropriate medical staff.
Currently, BPS doesn't have an overarching policy and that's something Lee and her group has been working to change. At the committee meeting, she pressed for specifics on how the policy will be developed and what interaction FAEN and other members of the public will be allowed to have with the BOS.
Committee member and BOE Chairman Frank Carrano said there will be "many opportunities.
"The development of the policy is the first step," Carrano explained to Lee. "Where we can really use your level of expertise is going to be developing the regulations-what are all the specific things we need to be aware of and cognizant of.
"We have these two tasks. The policy is more generalized; it is sort of the road map that we follow with respect to how we are going address the issue to manage food allergies," Carrano said. "But then it's just the day-to-day to management that's actually carried out and that's going to be another discussion, and I think that's where we will be much more engaged with you and others."
Soure The Day Publishing Company
How Infant Diet Could Prevent Food Allergy
By David Reading
Updated March 2012
Food Allergy Support
Updated March 2012: Researchers at the Evelina Children’s Hospital in London are testing the hypothesis that the early introduction of certain allergenic foods into infants’ diets may stop them developing allergy to those foods. This is a direct challenge to the counter theory – that it’s early introduction of allergenic foods that somehow causes the problem in the first place.
The team is recruiting babies whose mothers plan to exclusively breast-feed for at least the first three months of life. Any family with a young exclusively breastfed infant is being invited to contact the study team about taking part (contact details at foot of page).
Babies taking part are being recruited from the general UK population and placed at random in one of two groups.
One group with dietetic support is gradually introducing six allergenic foods from three to four months of age alongside continued breastfeeding (the early introduction group). The other is following present UK weaning advice, i.e. aiming for exclusive breastfeeding for around six months (the standard introduction group). This group will not introduce the allergenic foods before six months.
Mothers in the early introduction group are being asked to continue to breastfeed until their child is at least six months. They will also introduce small amounts of first baby rice and then cow’s milk based yoghurt from three to four months of age.
Source: Food Allergy Support
Should we go farther to accommodate food allergies?
Posted by Rebekah Denn
Monday, April 30, 2012
The Seattle Times
I've never thought much about food allergies when making meals for special events. But after seeing the happy group snack times at Shorenorth Co-op Preschool, which I wrote about in Pacific Magazine yesterday, I'm thinking more carefully about what to prepare for birthdays and bake sales.
In the preschool class, where most kids are between ages 1 and 2, parents voted to bring a majority of snacks that would accommodate the various food allergies and sensitivities among the kids, rather than bringing whatever we liked and having parents bring separate treats for those with issues.
I realize food restrictions can go to crazy self-inflicted lengths (just look at Michael Ruhlman's recent post on "Food Fascism.") But seeing the toddlers' friendly group gusto every week has made me feel bad, in retrospect, about the times I've seen a kid at my older children's parties eating a lonely gluten-free cookie rather than sharing in a birthday cake, or unable to enjoy either the peanut butter sandwiches or the cheese sandwiches because they had nut allergies as well as an intolerance to dairy. I'd always seen it as their parents' problem to deal with. But I see now it doesn't take much effort to either provide extra options or to serve something everyone can enjoy together.
I asked Seattleite Jeanne Sauvage, whose book on gluten-free baking is due out this fall, for her take on the issue. Sauvage's daughter has a life-threatening nut allergy and is sensitive to soy, and I've been observing for a while on Twitter how she tries to be inclusive when navigating classroom foods.
She wrote me that she agrees with the tack of having something that everyone can eat.
"It's a bummer when kids with allergies are always being left out of food celebrations or always having to bring their own thing. We always looked at this as going simple and basic..." she wrote.
"In our two pre-schools, we had kids with allergies (to) peanuts, wheat, soy, dairy, eggs, corn, shellfish, tree nuts. So, we had to work around all of those. We also had kids who were vegetarian. The way we did this was to stick with things like fruit and veggies. Turns out the kids loved snack platters: a plate with cut up fruit and veggies, sometimes with olives and beans. We gave them their own plates and they could serve themselves from the snack platter. Often with hummus. They especially loved black olives--placing them on their fingers and eating them one by one was a perpetual favorite. Another special treat was fruit-leather.
"I don't know about you, but I found that parents were kind of reluctant to bake something that was allergen-free because it always felt hard to them."
I've eaten and enjoyed Sauvage's cookies and cakes myself without even realizing they were gluten-free, so I figured she would have sweet options to combat that baking fear. Indeed she did. Parents did feel pretty universally at ease making the "chocolate crazy cake" she still serves at her daughter's birthday parties, which is free of the 8 main allergens. Here's her recipe, if you want to try it instead of -- or in addition to -- your usual birthday cake or classroom treat.
Source: The Seattle Times
Food Ingredients That Cause Milk Allergy May Be Missed By Standard Test
Friday, March 30, 2012
Medical News Today
The standard test used to detect milk-protein residues in processed foods may not work as well as previously believed in all applications, sometimes missing ingredients that can cause milk allergy, the most common childhood food allergy, which affects millions of children under age 3, a scientist reported at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society's (ACS), the world's largest scientific society.
Joseph L. Baumert, Ph.D., who headed the study, explained that thermal and non-thermal processing of foods can change the proteins responsible for milk allergy in ways that make the proteins harder to detect using the standard test, termed the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Processing, however, may still leave the milk proteins capable of causing itchy skin, runny eyes, wheezing and other sometimes more-serious symptoms of milk allergy, despite the inability to detect the milk residue.
Source: Medical News Today
By Charis Ubben, The Brookings Register, Monday, March 26, 2012
Critics question whether schools could stop with banning just peanuts; proponents say peanuts are in a class of their own.
When parents of Brookings students who are allergic to peanuts asked the Brookings school board last week to ban the legumes from city schools altogether, detractors said theyre afraid such a rule could be a slippery slope.
Similar comments were later made on the Registers Facebook page: Ban peanuts, some said, and what will be next tuna sandwiches? Strawberries?
Those in favor of peanut-free schools did answer that question: Peanuts are in a class of their own, they said, because they are the only allergy-causing food whose protein is known to go airborne.
By Jamie Lampros, Sunday, February 12, 2012, 11:27 pm
LAYTON, UTAH-- Some kisses can leave you breathless ... but not always in a good way. Before you pucker up for that Valentine's Day kiss, you might want to proceed with caution, especially if you suffer from food allergies.
Some kisses can be downright dangerous, possibly landing you in the hospital, fighting for your life, said an allergist in Layton.
"If you have a food allergy and kiss someone who had eaten a food that you are allergic to, then you may be exposed," said Douglas Jones, a physician at Rocky Mountain Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.
Read more http://www.standard.net/stories/2012/02/12/watch-allergen-laced-kisses-valentines-day-all-year
Allergic Child Unknowlingly Took Bite of Classroom Treat
Posted: 1:44 pm CST January 26, 2012, Updated: 7:57 am CST January 30, 2012
OMAHA, Neb. -- A Carter Lake, Iowa 7-year-old survived a brush with death after a eating a snack that caused a delayed peanut-allergy reaction.
"I was allergic to peanut butter. My tummy hurted, so we went to the hospital," said 7-year-old Max Roseland as he took a break from reading books to his sister, Ruby.
The boy has a known peanut and gluten allergy as well as asthma. Just before Christmas, his mother went to his school to approve the snacks that were going to be served as part of a special movie day.
Just hours later, Amy received a startling phone call from the school.
"I'd gotten a phone call that he'd taken a bite of a peanut butter granola bar," said Amy Roseland, Max's mother.
Read more: http://www.ketv.com/news/30307603/detail.html#ixzz1kyh45wJc
Updated: Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 8:35 pm CST, Published: Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 8:27 pm CST
Chicago - The Chicago School Board has approved a plan to stock every public school with epinephrine pens. In an emergency, epi-pens can be used to inject a student who has gone into anaphylactic shock.
Katelyn Carlson died from a food allergy in 2010. Her father was at Wednesdays board meeting.
The week before she died, I was in the car with her taking her to school, and I asked her why she believed in God, Michael Carlson said. I know she has faith in her schools, and she has faith in you people from above and she's watching all of you.
Stocking schools with epi-pens will cost CPS $195,000.
By Emma Brown, Thursday, January 5, 2012, Posted at 5:23 pm EST
A Virginia first-grader died Monday after apparently suffering an allergic reaction at school, prompting questions about how schools handle the treatment of students with serious allergies.
Paramedics responded to an emergency call from officials at a Chesterfield County elementary school around 2:30 p.m. Monday, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and arrived to find 7-year-old Ammaria Johnson in cardiac arrest.
She was taken to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead, the Times-Dispatch reported. Her mother, Laura Pendleton, told the CBS affiliate in Richmond that her daughter was allergic to peanuts.
Media Contact: Ekaterina Pesheva, Monday, December 26, 2011
New report includes guidelines on whom and when to test
An advisory from two leading allergists, Robert Wood of the Johns Hopkins Childrens Center and Scott Sicherer of Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, urges clinicians to use caution when ordering allergy tests and to avoid making a diagnosis based solely on test results.
In an article, published in the January issue of Pediatrics, the researchers warn that blood tests, an increasingly popular diagnostic tool in recent years, and skin-prick testing, an older weapon in the allergists arsenal, should never be used as standalone diagnostic strategies. These tests, Sicherer and Wood say, should be used only to confirm suspicion and never to look for allergies in an asymptomatic patient.
Test results, they add, should be interpreted in the context of a patients symptoms and medical history. If a food allergy is suspected, Sicherer and Wood advise, the patient should undergo a food challenge the gold standard for diagnosis which involves consuming small doses of the suspected allergen under medical supervision.
Read more: http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Allergy-Tests-are-No-Magic-Bullets-for-Diagnosis.aspx
Introduce foods slowly and work with your doctor to find out
By Jenny Kales, Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Lucy Simmons was enjoying a jar of baby food when her parents noticed something very wrong.
"My daughter's face swelled up, she got hives and she became very ill," says her mom, Nicole Simmons of Orland Park. Simmons and her husband Sean rushed their 9-month-old to the emergency room where they received a life-changing diagnosis: severe allergies to several common foods, including dairy, peanut, shellfish, sesame and egg.
"Younger kids have the largest proportion of new food allergy diagnosis," says Dr. Jacqueline Pongracic, head of Allergy and Immunology at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
Any food can cause an allergic reaction, but most food allergies are caused by cow's milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts (such as walnuts, pistachios, pecans and cashews), soy, wheat, fish and shellfish.
Read more: http://www.chicagoparent.com/magazines/chicago-baby/2011-fall/3-6-months/allergies
By Jacqueline Church, Published: November 8, 2011, The Washington Post
An almost imperceptible reaction flickered across the waiters face when I broke the news: I have a dairy allergy. He seemed annoyed. I winced. But then he smiled and assured me, Once I put the words Dairy Allergy on this ticket, the whole kitchen will know, and no dairy will touch your order.
Relief. They get it! I thought. And they should. After all, Massachusetts, where I live, is the first (and only) state to mandate allergen training for restaurants.
Read more: Read this article
By Nathan Gray, Wednesday, October 12, 2011
A new approach could make food allergen appear safe, and prevent life-threatening allergic reactions, according to new research in mice.
By Alice Park @aliceparkny, Monday, September 5, 2011
New research suggests that race and ancestry may play an important role in food allergies.
Dr. Rajesh Kumar, a pediatrician at Northwestern University Medical School, and his team report in the journal Pediatrics that black children are more than twice as likely as white children to have sensitivities to eight foods that commonly cause allergic reactions, and that they are especially vulnerable to peanut allergies.
By Diane Marks, Tuesday, August 23, 2011
If you develop a severe allergic reaction to corn you may need emergency medical attention. Any food can cause your immune system to overreact, triggering allergy symptoms. A racing heart is a common symptom of an extreme allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Anaphylatic symptoms develop quickly after consuming a food that you're allergic to and could lead to death if not treated properly.
Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/524766-heart-racing-a-corn-allergy/#ixzz1po0vhjqd
Food Allergy Articles
2010 to 2008
Food Allergy & Diarrhea
By Diana Marks, Monday, October 25, 2010
A food allergy is a malfunction of the immune system to certain foods that cause adverse reactions, according to MayoClinic.com. The most common food allergens are peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, fish, soy, shellfish and wheat, according to MedlinePlus. Food allergy symptoms typically appear within a few minutes or up to one hour after ingesting the food allergen. Diarrhea from food allergies is a common symptom that needs to be evaluated by a medical doctor.
Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/288680-food-allergy-diarrhea/#ixzz1po1oSXGY
Peanut-Free Seats Draw Allergic Fans to Ballparks
Move by MLB teams more to help fans relax than counter real safety threat
By Lauren Sausser, Updated Saturday, August 21, 2010, 5:37 pm
WASHINGTON - Take me out to the ballgame — just hold the peanuts.
Catering to allergy sufferers and parents concerned about reactions that can range from minor irritation to life-threatening anaphylactic shock, a third of major league ballclubs are offering peanut-free seating at some games this season.
While there's disagreement about how much exposure can trigger a reaction, the peanut-less seats are a hook that's gaining traction from Boston to Atlanta.
In Washington, the Nationals have offered suites with peanut-free seats at a handful of games each season since 2007. During a recent July game, parents came toting coolers full of homemade snacks, as well as EpiPens, which are used to give injections that counter severe allergic reactions.
Read more: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/38792905/ns/sports-baseball/
No clear criteria for diagnosing food allergies, researcher finds
By Michelle Brandt, May 11, 2010
Organic Baby Food - Can it Help a Baby With Allergies?
By David R. West
October 10, 2009
EzineArticles
Shortly after adopting our three week old son it became evident that he was having a problem holding down almost everything that he was fed. His skin was also getting small bumps over most areas of his body. When he was about 4 months old he started to itch and scratch affected areas until they would bleed. He would even pull out his hair in areas of his head that itched. Eventually we found the only way to stop severe scratching and hair pulling was to cover his hands with athletic socks and tape them to his arms so that he could not remove them. This problem persisted for months. After many visits with his pediatrician and several specialists it seemed that every suggestion we tried did not work. Eventually one of the doctors suggested that we look at switching to organic baby food.
Source: EzineArticles
Researchers Put a Microscope on Food Allergies
By Karen Ann Cullotta, December 8, 2008
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/health/09allergies.html
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