Fear and Allergies in the Lunchroom

Protect Allergic Kids is a wonderful organization that helps families deal with the many complex issues of food allergies and allergic diseases.

The picture in the Top of the Week section shows a family of an allergy patient playing with a "hypoallergenic dog". There is no such thing. All dogs are a major source of the dog allergen Can f 1, and make it in their skin, urine, saliva, fur/hair and ***. To suggest that a hypoallergenic dog exists perpetuates myths that contribute to the suffering of my allergic patients. To an allergist, this is as absurd as showing them petting their pet unicorn!

The article suggests that blood tests are better than skin tests. However, the article does not mention that blood tests may be negative in allergic individuals up to 20% of the time, while a negative skin test rules out an allergy to a food completely. Perhaps your authors should have performed some independent research on the topic rather than listening to voices who are paid to promote blood testing for allergies by Pharmacia promoting their CAP-RAST system. The are frequently false positives to blood tests as well. Much of my day is spent reassuring parents of children who had false positive blood tests for food allergies.

Our Intimate Relationship with the Toxins in Our Foods
A famous French political thinker once said that the public would rather believe a simple lie than a complex truth.

The truth behind genetic engineering is extremely complex. It has been used for decades, but it is only in the last ten years that neurotoxins have been
engineered into our food supply.
No one has studied the long term health implications of children consuming foods containing neurotoxins, novel proteins and allergens.
Though to look back over the last ten years, you quickly remember that ten years ago, we didn??t have to worry about sending a peanut butter and jelly sandwich into school with our children; we didn??t have to medicate our eight year olds to get them through the school day; and the movie, Rain Man, was all we knew of autism.
Today, at least 1 out of every 17 children under the age of three has a food allergy with at least 5 million American children suffering from this condition (though these statistics are from 2002, over five years old).
Autism, diabetes and obesity are often referred to as American epidemics.
So what has changed?
In 1996, the United States adopted widespread use of genetically modified crops due to growing public concern over the health risks associated with the industrial spraying of insecticidal and pesiticidal toxins.
In an effort to reduce the spraying of these toxins, scientists began using biotechnology to engineer these pesticides and insecticides into the plants themselves.
As these ingredients were introduced around the world ten years ago, government agencies in Europe, Asia, Australia, Japan, Russia and 45 developed countries required them to be listed on food labels, so that consumers could make informed choices when it came to feeding their families.
In the United States, our regulatory agencies do not require these genetically engineered ingredients to be labeled.
So, unlike other developed countries, we have not been informed that almost 70% of our corn, 90% of our soy and 75% of our processed food now contain
neurotoxins, novel proteins and allergens.
Today one out of every three children suffers from allergies, asthma, autism or ADHD. It appears that we have unknowingly and without informed consent engaged our children in one of the largest human trials in history.
Ten years into this human trial, our children are trying to tell us something.
Shouldn???t we listen?

Firstly, let me say their is nothing harder than protecting your child from traces of something you cannot see, its like walking in a mine field. My son has a great success story and we are truly blessed. He outgrew his peanut allergy at age 2. I breastfed him for these 2 yrs. didn't eat out and ate mostly organic. I think we are lucky but I did do some things that I believe helped him outgrow it. We stopped cleaning so much, yes I was one who was a clean freak. And started exposing him to more germs, dirt, and sick kids. Also started doing probiotics. I don't know if any of this worked or he just was one of the lucky ones, but I do know the schools and other parents need to be more aware of how serious food allergies are and how frightening it can be just to go to a party or school where people are not educated about allergies. Thank you to Newsweek (at least its getting some press).

If the hygiene hypothesis were true, wouldn't almost all children be suffering from allergies and atopic diseases? More likely, when children are first exposed to peanut protein, whether in utero or via breast milk, their immune systems are concurrently challenged by an immunosuppressive and toxic agent which acts as a danger signal and stimulates the production of protein-specific IgE antibodies. I propose that this agent could very well be aflatoxin, a fungal toxin that is both toxic to the liver (which plays a role in oral tolerance mechanisms) and able to suppress a regulatory immune response by inhibiting production of IL-2 at the gene level. Aflatoxin has been found to commonly contaminate peanut butter (Consumer Reports, Sept 1990). It has been documented that transplant acquired food allergies are most likely due to the recent use of tacrolimus, an immunosuppressive drug that inhibits IL-2 several orders of magnitude more than previous drugs. The levels of aflatoxin in food can be linked to changes in climate--the more hot, dry weather, the greater the chance that our food contains higher levels of aflatoxin. And the FDA just has action levels for aflatoxin in human food, and these levels are not even legally binding. I believe they even loosened their restrictions for aflatoxin in animal feed in the late 90s. Researchers need to look a little more closely at the effects of immunotoxic environmental agents like aflatoxin.

After reading some of the discussion here, I noticed alot of blame and speculation that food allergies are caused by parents doing something wrong. I have 2 children, 1 is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts the other is allergic to nothing. They are only 3 years apart in age and being raised in the same enviroment. I gave birth to them both naturally. I keep my house clean but I don't go overboard. If I did something wrong to cause my son's allergy then why is my daughter not allergic as well? If anyone reads this article like I did, they would notice that alot of doctors and scientist are desperate to find answers for our children. Placing blame on parents is a waste of time and can be hurtful to an already stressed out family.

After reading some of the discussion here, I noticed alot of blame and speculation that food allergies are caused by parents doing something wrong. I have 2 children, 1 is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts the other is allergic to nothing. They are only 3 years apart in age and being raised in the same enviroment. I gave birth to them both naturally. I keep my house clean but I don't go overboard. If I did something wrong to cause my son's allergy then why is my daughter not allergic as well? If anyone reads this article like I did, they would notice that alot of doctors and scientist are desperate to find answers for our children. Placing blame on parents is a waste of time and can be hurtful to an already stressed out family.

After reading some of the discussion here, I noticed alot of blame and speculation that food allergies are caused by parents doing something wrong. I have 2 children, 1 is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts the other is allergic to nothing. They are only 3 years apart in age and being raised in the same enviroment. I gave birth to them both naturally. I keep my house clean but I don't go overboard. If I did something wrong to cause my son's allergy then why is my daughter not allergic as well? If anyone reads this article like I did, they would notice that alot of doctors and scientist are desperate to find answers for our children. Placing blame on parents is a waste of time and can be hurtful to an already stressed out family.

I breast feed my son and guess what he is allergic to milk I knew something was wrong right away. we had to do formula. it was too hard for me to get everything out of my diet. He was also allergic to egg, soy ,peanuts and treenuts So far he has out grew egg and soy .He is 4-1/2 years old . every child is different Although I believe breast feeding is best It is not always an option.

I also breastfed both of my children until they were over a year old. The food allergies manifested in so many mixed symptoms that is was not clear to me what was wrong. In doing what I thought was best (quitting my job, staying at home, making all our food, etc.), we still experienced the growing phenomenon of food allergies, asthma and eczema (the Big Three, as they are now known). I don't know what pattern you can get from this, as each family is different yet still experiences the same things!

This is in response to Samanthw and Rockwoodca. To Samanthaw, to say that you should let your children, "personally find out what their weaknesses are, including allergies" just shows your immaturity. My son is allergic to peanuts, treenuts, milk, eggs, soy, and sunflower seeds. To allow him to "find out what his weaknesses are, including allergies" is the equivalent of handing him a loaded gun. A speck of an allergen can KILL my son. Did you understand that? I am not talking about an upset stomach or a little rash. I have three other children without food allergies and they are all being raised the same. I am not a super clean freak, but I am not a slob. I let my children play in dirt, etc. It is hard enough to deal with life threatening allergies every single day, but to deal with the ignorance of the likes of you two is infuriating to say the least. Please do not speak about things you know nothing about.

Pardon my poor typing in the previous entry. You folks need to offer spell check

Until your family is faced with a food allergy, you will never know the extent the familes have to go to avoid those certain foods. My 15 month old son was recently diagnosed allergic to wheat, milk, and soy. This all falls under a condition known as Eosinophilic Esophagitis. It is a rare, but increasingly more predominant, auto-immune disorder affecting children and adults. There is no history of food allergies in out family, or 4 year old daughter. To say that his allergies are my fault because of the way I have chosen to raise him is very upsetting. This is never something that I would choose for him or any other child. My son eats maiinly grilled chicken, rice, and vegetables. We are unable to eat out at many restaurants because we do not know how they prepare the food, or what it is made with. People easily discount food allergies as being non-important. Please understand that food allergies ARE very serious, just as serious as allergies to medications and bee stings. You would never see people up in arms when a parent refuses to take their child around bee hives after having a reaction to bee stings. Why should food allergies be any different?

Until your family is faced with a food allergy, you will never know the extent the familes have to go to avoid those certain foods. My 15 month old son was recently diagnosed allergic to wheat, milk, and soy. This all falls under a condition known as Eosinophilic Esophagitis. It is a rare, but increasingly more predominant, auto-immune disorder affecting children and adults. There is no history of food allergies in out family, or 4 year old daughter. To say that his allergies are my fault because of the way I have chosen to raise him is very upsetting. This is never something that I would choose for him or any other child. My son eats maiinly grilled chicken, rice, and vegetables. We are unable to eat out at many restaurants because we do not know how they prepare the food, or what it is made with. People easily discount food allergies as being non-important. Please understand that food allergies ARE very serious, just as serious as allergies to medications and bee stings. You would never see people up in arms when a parent refuses to take their child around bee hives after having a reaction to bee stings. Why should food allergies be any different?

Dealing with food allergies is an ongoing, frustrating, stressful challenge that invades every aspect of life- as the article mentions, it's not only a problem at lunchtime, but in the paints and chalks that contain egg, the playdoh made from wheat, the shampoos, conditioners, and lotions that contain nut oils, etc.. I am learning this first-hand with my son who is nearly 2 and suffers from allergies to dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, sunflower seed and coconut, in addition to eczema and environmental allergies. There are no food allergies between my husband or I. We do not live in a super-clean environment - in fact, we don't even purchase antibacterial soaps. We don't know why he was affected with this problem. I feel it's due to all the processed foods we eat- we've since switched to a healthier diet consisting of whole, organic foods that are more natural to our systems. Also, to the person who commented on her neighbor's children who suffered from multiple allergies yet were raised in a sterile environment- she's doing the best she can. It's one of those situations where you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. They say cleanliness causes allergies, but then, once you're diagnosed, you're told to minimize things like dust, mold, pet hair, etc. to keep the suffering to a minimum- particularly since many of these allergic children are also prone to developing asthma.
I commend the scientists working to create a solution to this problem- I eagerly await your successes.