This article by Gwen Smith of Allergic Living Magazine gives an important message for everyone with children in the school. Whether you are a parent of an allergic child, a parent with a child attending the school with allergic children, or a teacher at that school, you need to read this article.

It goes through many important points to consider for snacks and lunches. Outlines a few facts and dangers associated with food allergies and how we can all get along together if the allergic and non-allergic make a few adjustments.

This is a Canadian site, but these apply to wherever you are.

via CBC News – Canada – What teachers and parents should know about severe food allergies.

Illustration by John Ueland for TIME

Joel Stein has a knack for writing articles that raises the hair on the back of people’s necks.  (See his article “Have Americans Gone Nuts Over Nut Allergies?”

This time he gets his own, though not in a way I would wish on ANYONE.

A Nut Allergy Skeptic Learns the Hard Way

By JOEL STEIN Saturday, Aug. 14, 2010

Years ago, sitting on an ear doctor’s examining table after causing my inner ear to bleed for days by puncturing it with a Q-tip, I looked up to see a framed copy of a column about how stupid it is to put Q-tips in your ears. It was a column I had written. When you publish hundreds of obnoxiously self-righteous proclamations, some of them are going to cause you embarrassment. Which doesn’t seem all that big of a deal when you also have blood leaking from your ears.

At the beginning of last year, I wrote a column that questioned whether the increase in food allergies among children was a matter of overreporting. It began with this carefully calibrated thought: “Your kid doesn’t have an allergy to nuts. Your kid has a parent who needs to feel special.” After that, I got a little harsh.

(See nine kid foods to avoid.)

The column was not the first thing that came to mind after my 1-year-old son Laszlo started sneezing, then breaking out in hives, then rubbing his eyes, then crying through welded-shut eyes, then screaming and, finally, vomiting copiously at the entrance of the Childrens Hospital emergency room an hour after eating his first batch of blended mixed nuts.

via A Nut Allergy Skeptic Learns the Hard Way – TIME.

Allergies Attack!

The game follows a boy during his dreams in which he goes on the offensive against all types of allergies; pollen, bees, peanuts, dust, pet dander, you name it.

Fly a ship and shoot the baddies out of the sky as they come flying towards you.

I bought the game and found it to be fun and managed to get through a few levels of play. I’ve been told that there will be an update to introduce a more child-friendly settings so that even the little ones can enjoy it to its fullest!

At only .99 cents you too can support the awareness campaign! (links to Itunes.com)

Enjoy!

Game Intro screen

Game screen

A special congrats goes out to Sarah D. of Matthews, North Carolina. She will be receiving her free pack of Gluten Foodcards in the mail!

For those who did not win, watch the web and especially the Delicardo Facebook page. They sometimes have special offers and contests so you may yet win!

Canada’s first nationwide food allergy survey shows that about 1.7 per cent of children under 18 have a probable peanut allergy, while another 1.59 per cent have a probable allergy to tree nuts, such as hazelnuts and walnuts.

This study was from 2008-2009 and was conducted over the phone to 10000 families. That’s a good sized sample and shows that a great many children are affected.

It’s also notable that there is a great difference between results in the US and Canada.

He says the rates are higher in Canada than in the U.S. — a 2002 American study found that 0.83 per cent of children have peanut allergies and 0.51 per cent are allergic to tree nuts.

Keep in mind the time between studies. It is possible for those results to have changed in 6 years.

Read the whole article here.

The Chef Upstairs in Toronto has started offering cooking classes for children. The Chef Upstairs is a food allergy aware restaurant that is completely free of peanuts and tree nuts.

Check out this full article. It’s great to see restaurants picking up on the need for specialty venues or even just being aware that a good portion of clients may have sensitivities and allergies.

Thanks, Maggie!

By, Maggie Pingolt

PHOENIX- Waking up the day of high school graduation is typically a gift from the gods, a chance to leave the confines of an underage life with parents.  For some with food allergies, it’s just another day of heightened awareness.  One misstep at the party buffet and the night is ruined in hives, sneezing or anaphylactic shock.

Going to college is a difficult tradition in and of itself.  In addition to a life threatening condition like food allergies, teens and young adults are at the highest risk of death because of vehicle accidents, drug overdose, and alcohol intoxication.

Chelsey Heath, a freshman at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, has an anaphylactic peanut allergy.  She feels many young adults with food allergies do not practice healthy behaviors.

The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network says, “A study showed that teens with food allergy and asthma appear to be at the highest risk for a reaction, because they are more likely to take risks when away from home, are less likely to carry medications, and may ignore or not recognize symptoms. “

The inability to accurately assess risk is one reason many college students with food allergies disassociate themselves with behaviors that may prevent an allergic reaction.  Some students may find healthy, safe options difficult to find on campus; others may feel they’re invincible to reactions.

“I’m a very type-A person, but the average student who goes and get’s drunk could be in real danger.  How many people would be able and willing to help them if they went into anaphylactic shock?” says Heath.

Anaphylactic shock, the most detrimental of reactions, is categorized by a change in blood pressure, swelling of the esophagus and difficulty breathing.  Symptoms may also include hives, swollen lips and change in skin tone. All reactions within the anaphylaxis range are deadly and must be treated immediately.

Studies indicate those with food allergies are likely to struggle with more than one food allergy and a culmination of other allergies; including medicines, animal danders’ and pollen.

Heath is also allergic to wool, rayon, grass, cigarette smoke, nickel, and her own sweat (which results in a heat rash).  She’s not alone.

“There’s very little conception of food allergies.  Some people don’t always take it seriously and they think I’m just being picky but I respond, ‘Uh, I’ll show you what picky is when I can’t breath.’”

Google.com searches of “college students and food allergies” reveal many different blogs, recipes and online support groups; but are college services up to par?

Jessica Miller a 22-year-old secondary education-biological sciences major at ASU, was diagnosed with a citrus allergy the summer before ninth grade and has a reason to complain.  As she ages her allergy has gotten progressively worse.

Miller says the biggest difficulty is ingesting her allergen without any knowledge of doing so; ASU’s dining hall on the downtown campus poses concerns with soups, sauces or fruit salads.

“I have a problem with some of the ways different restaurants (including the dining halls on campus) can’t give you an explanation about what is in the food.

“If you ask someone, you usually have to wait and see if the chef is available to get a list of ingredients and they’re very inconsistent with their signs,” complains Miller.

Taylor Stelk, second-year food science major at the University of Nebraska, comes from the other side of the fence.

“College campus knowledge of food allergies is (at least to me) surprisingly high.  Perhaps this is because I live on a campus that has a well-based department of food allergies, but dining services do provide meals to those with food allergies,” says Stelk.

As a researcher in food industries’ maintenance of allergen-free products, Stelk rates the general public’s knowledge as decent. “The food industry has begun to create products that are ‘gluten-free’, ‘peanut free’, but I do not the think it is common knowledge of how prevalent some allergens are in a wide variety of foods.

“Many people don’t consider the fact that many food producers create dozens of products in one facility.”

Lindsey Mock, a nursing student at ASU with a shellfish allergy, believes safety and awareness are the responsibility of the person with the food allergy.

“I did not need to make any special arrangements before going to school/living in the dormitories, since I stay away from food products (that may contain shellfish). Products have a list of ingredients, so consumers can check for their food allergy,” Mock says.

However, because manufactured food is such a staple for busy college students, the risk can be high.

The recommended class load for the average student is 16 credits.  With class time, study sessions, regular exercise, work and a social life, preparing meals multiple times a day can be challenging.

Preparing meals multiple times a day on a limited variety of food isn’t any easier.

Dr. Michael Manning, an allergy specialist in Scottsdale, Ariz., responds to the complexity of the disease as the antagonist in finding a cure.

“The allergic reaction to a food is due to a very specific immune response to a particular protein, of a group of proteins, that are found in a food. Typically there is a major protein responsible for triggering the reaction, the allergen is the protein found in the food.

“The more we know about the proteins involved, the more we can target what is needed to turn the reaction off.  However, it is difficult to use the term ‘cure’ with allergic disease because the individual has a genetic predisposition to make allergic antibodies- it is very difficult to completely shut that system down.”

Dr. Douglas Lake, an immunology and allergy expert at ASU explains the genetic predisposition of food allergies in the context of an autoimmune disease.

Problems arise in the most basic aspects of the chemical composition of proteins.  Because proteins are comprised of many different molecular relationships like amino acid sequences, carboxyl groups and R-groups, finding the actual cause is like finding a needle in a never-ending haystack.

Lake points out the difficulty of food allergies in the body’s translation of amino acids.  People’s ability to digest a given protein is written in his or her DNA, and each protein’s particular structure is “written” in the sequence of their amino acids.

All amino acids are constructed from different arrangements of hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen.

Because of the infinite arrangements from such basic elements, it’s especially hard to pinpoint a medicinal direction to study when there’s such complexity in a given protein.

Marc Dufour, a father of a child with food allergies, sees the rising prevalence in media as a positive incentive for more studies.

“There are a lot of interesting theories these days and this is encouraging because it means food allergies are a topic of interest and discussion, and related research is finally on the front burner.”

Sources:

http://www.aafa.org/esg_results.cfm?state=AZ

http://www.fda.gov/Food/LabelingNutrition/default.htm

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/362/9/779

http://www.allergicliving.com/features.asp?copy_id=67

http://www.foodallergy.org/

http://www2.med.umich.edu/prmc/media/newsroom/details.cfm?ID=521

Chemistry, the Central Science, 11 edition

News Release from Anaphylaxis Canada

Anaphylaxis Canada welcomes Parliament’s declaration of May as Food Allergy Awareness Month

“It means so much to me” – Sara Shannon, whose daughter Sabrina died of an allergic reaction

Toronto, May 4, 2010 – Anaphylaxis Canada applauds Parliament’s motion
recognizing Food Allergy Awareness Month and will be commemorating the
occasion by promoting a number of initiatives intended to support the
1.3 million Canadians who live with food allergies. This is the first
year such a month has been designated in Canada and will now be a
permanently recognized occasion. Several other countries including the
US, UK, Italy, New Zealand and Australia have similar declarations.

“The declaration of Food Allergy Awareness Month is a significant step
in the ongoing effort to educate the public about food allergies,”
said Laurie Harada, Executive Director of Anaphylaxis Canada and
herself the mother of a teenager with multiple food allergies. “We are
thrilled that all political parties united to support this motion.”

Food allergy is a growing public health issue in Canada. More than
fifty percent of Canadians know someone with a food allergy. While
allergic individuals must take responsibility for their condition,
awareness and support of the community are key to keeping people,
especially children, safe. Without treatment, anaphylaxis, the most
severe form of an allergic reaction, can cause death.

In the visitor’s gallery to watch Parliament vote on the motion was
allergy advocate Sara Shannon. Sara’s daughter, Sabrina, had her own
advocacy efforts tragically cut short by a fatal anaphylactic reaction
in 2003 when she was just 13 years old.

“This means so much to me,” said Sara Shannon, “and it would have
meant so much to Sabrina. In her short life Sabrina experienced many
parts of Canada, from the mountains of British Columbia to the
beautiful city of Montreal. She would want everyone to share in this
country’s beauty and possibility and would therefore be very pleased
that the serious issues around food allergies are getting attention
from our federal lawmakers.”

Anaphylaxis Canada will be recognizing Food Allergy Awareness Month
through a number of planned initiatives and events. This includes the
organization’s annual conference, hosted this year in Toronto, during
which exciting new food allergy research will be presented by leading
Canadian experts. Anaphylaxis Canada will also be launching two key
initiatives for teens and young adults: a new French version of its
website especially created for allergic teens to help them manage
their food allergies more effectively; and the Sabrina Shannon
Memorial Award for youth involvement in community anaphylaxis
education. The award is dedicated to the life of Sabrina Shannon.

Thanks for playing!

Exciting! Together with Delicardo we are proud to annmounce that we will be giving away a package of 10 Delicardo food cards!

The contest is simple.

Leave us a comment stating what type of Foodcard would work best for you and  and at the end of the give-away we’ll pick a random guest to receive a card set!

The contest will run until May 15th (1 month from today!) so to give everyone a good chance to enter and get their comments in.

I may have to massage the rules a bit so these are not set in stone.

Also only one entry per person!

Good luck!

• How do you describe your allergies to a waiter or chef?
• Are you sure you covered everything?
• After he leaves to go place your order, did you forget to tell him one other thing about what you can not eat?
• What if the waiter forgets to mention something to the kitchen or says the wrong thing?
• What happens if you are travelling? Do you know how to describe your allergies to someone in their native language?

Delicardo Foodcards can help you get through these situations. The Delicardo Foodcard contains all the information a food preparation professional could need. It lists the food you can and can not eat. It even tells them where these allergic reaction-inducing ingredients can be most commonly found.

Available in English, German and Spanish (they are currently working on a French version as well as other languages) you can order them specially for the vacation you are about to take.

The cards are available for just about any allergy or sensitivity out there:

• Nuts
• Celery
• Egg
• Fish
• Histamine
• Milk
• Seafood
• Soya
• And More!

Delicardo Foodcards are developed with help from nutrition professionals and chefs to give as accurate a description as possible. The design is made to be easy to read. There is an area for you to add your own notes or for waiters to add theirs.

Each individual allergy can be included on a card, or you can customize your cards to include as many allergies as you want to make a combination card. Check out the Configurator here. In the Configurator you can also add your own notes if there are specific foods you want listed that are not included by default. You can also include information about medication.

The cards are currently available through the Delicardo website, and pricing for packages of 10 or 50 cards is in Euros. We at Eat Nut Free have inquired if there will be a North American distributor, and we should have news about that in the near future.

Together with Delicardo we will be hosting a give-away of a 10-pack of cards. Depending on the response we may give away more! Stay tuned for details of the contest within the next couple of weeks.