PARENTS CONNECTION
Food Allergies: Know the Facts

Though food allergies are often over-diagnosed, about 5% of children have true allergic reactions to food. When dealing with food allergies, it's important to know the basics so that you can help your child to live a healthy life. Here's what you need to know.

What are food allergies?
Food allergies occur when the body's immune system rejects certain foods as harmful. Your child may have a food allergy if she has any of the following allergic symptoms within 2 hours after eating certain foods:

• lips, tongue, or mouth swelling
• diarrhea or vomiting
• hives
• itchy red skin (especially if a child already has eczema)

Rarely does a child have a severe allergic reaction (called an "anaphylactic reaction") that may be life-threatening. Symptoms of such a reaction are a sudden difficulty breathing, sudden difficulty swallowing, weakness from a sudden fall in blood pressure (shock) or confused thinking. Never let your child try the food again if she had a severe or anaphylactic reaction to it.

Children who have other allergic conditions, such as eczema, asthma, or hay fever are more likely to have food allergies than children who do not have other allergies.

What causes food allergies?
Allergic children produce antibodies against certain foods. When these antibodies come in contact with the food that causes the allergy, there is a reaction between the antibodies and the food. This reaction releases chemicals, such as histamines, that cause the allergy symptoms.

Food allergies are also inherited. If one parent has allergies, each child has about a 40% chance of developing allergies. If both parents have allergies, the chance of food allergy rises to about 75% for each child.

Will my child outgrow a food allergy?
At least half of the children who develop a food allergy during the first year of life outgrow it by the time they are 2 or 3 years old. Milk and soy allergies are more often outgrown than others. Although 3% to 4% of all babies have a cow's milk allergy, less than 1% of them are allergic to milk for the rest of their lives. Allergies to tree nuts, peanuts, fish, and shellfish often do last a lifetime, however.

How do I treat a food allergy?
Avoid eating the food that causes the allergy. This should keep your child free of symptoms. If your child is breast-feeding and is allergic to a food that you are eating, do not eat this food until your child stops breast-feeding.

Consider avoiding other foods in the same food group. Some children are allergic to 2 or more foods. This happens most often to children who are allergic to ragweed pollen. These children often react to watermelon, cantaloupe, muskmelon, honeydew melon and other foods in the gourd family. Children allergic to peanuts may react to soybeans, peas, or other beans.

Join the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. This national organization can help with any food allergy questions you might have.

Provide a substitute for any missing vitamins or minerals. Eliminating single foods from the diet usually does not cause any nutrition problems. If you eliminate a major food group, however, you will need to make sure your child gets all the nutrients he or she needs from other sources. For example, if you eliminate dairy products, your child will need to get calcium and vitamin D from other foods or supplements. Talk to your health care provider or a nutritionist about dietary supplements like vitamins.

Visit your health care provider. If you suspect your child may have a food allergy, your pediatrician can help diagnose the allergy with a skin prick test or blood test. Call 911 immediately if your child develops serious symptoms including wheezing, croupy cough, trouble breathing, lightheadedness or tightness in the chest or throat.