Parents of kids with food allergies are hungry for solutions.
Since 1960, food allergy rates in children have more than doubled—from 3% to more than 7%—with 5.6 million children in the U.S. today suffering from countless potential food allergies.
And it’s leaving moms and dads of kids with allergies feeling anxious—and a little misunderstood, says Dr. According to Rania Nasis.
“The number one thing we hear from parents is that people don’t take it seriously,” Nassis told The Post. “These kids are remembering a lot of things simply because they don’t have the general acceptance and awareness.”
But help is on the way. Cutting-edge research has given scientists a better understanding of food allergies — and viable treatments — than ever before. Read on for bite-sized breakthroughs from this area.
There are nine major food allergies
Food allergies can cause a number of scary symptoms, ranging from rashes, nausea and vomiting to anaphylaxis and, in the most extreme cases, death. It’s no wonder parents are wary of expanding their kids’ diets!
But rest assured, the vast majority of food allergies can be attributed to nine ingredients: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, crustacean shellfish, wheat and soy. In these cases, the immune system is reacting aggressively to a specific protein found in the food.
The author of “The New Allergy Solution,” NYU allergist Dr. According to Clifford Bassett, other presumed food allergies can boil down to pesky pollen. People who experience throat and mouth itching from certain fruits or vegetables may experience “a manifestation of their seasonal allergy with a protein in pollen,” which is annoying, but not life-threatening, he said. Told The Post.
Our plentifully clean lifestyle is making allergies worse
The so-called “hygiene hypothesis”, sometimes referred to as the “microbial exposure hypothesis”, postulates that innovative and overzealous hygiene practices are making us, paradoxically, more vulnerable to allergens – and, to a lesser extent, this is true.
But that’s no excuse for skipping hand washing, the docs say. Especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bassett told The Post, “[It] It would be unfair to tell people ‘don’t sanitize.'” The fact is the world is a far less diseased place for aggressive sanitation—and that’s a good thing.
mom can’t take the blame for it
For years, some C-section moms have blamed themselves for their babies’ food allergies, believing that babies born this way are exposed to too many presurgery antibiotics, and then to some protective microbes. “Miss Out”, through whom they would have been exposed. Birth canal.
But studies published earlier this month refute this connection. Rachel Peters, associate professor at Australia’s Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne and author of one such study, told The Post: “We believe there is a window of opportunity [preventing] food allergies, [and it’s unlikely to be just] It is a factor that occurs at birth that sets you down the path of being allergic. Many other things are likely to be involved in relation to microbial exposure.”
The role of the microbiome is mysterious, but key
Scientists have come to believe that if the microbiome — the unique makeup of the microorganisms that live on the skin and inside the body — has a lot to do with developing food allergies. And on the contrary, children who are exposed to more germs early on are actually less likely to develop lifelong food allergies. Researchers say protective factors include growing up with older siblings or with pets.
Milk allergy and lactose intolerance are not the same thing
The triggers and symptoms may be similar – usually abdominal pain and diarrhea – but the cause is completely different. A milk allergy is the result of an overactive immune system that targets certain dairy proteins, while an intolerance develops due to the absence of an essential digestive enzyme, lactase, that helps break down milk molecules in the intestine.
How does it matter? While a true milk allergy can be fatal, an intolerance can be addressed with an over-the-counter supplement such as Lactaid. If you’re bloated with dairy, a doctor can help you figure out whether you should avoid it altogether, or take a trip to a local pharmacy. “It’s all we do around the world as allergies,” Bassett said. “We really do investigate, and do a lot of detective work to try and identify the proximate cause.”
Pediatricians Now Want Kids to Try Potential Allergies — ASAP
The old way of thinking was to prevent potentially fatal allergic reactions by avoiding trigger foods at an early age. But, five years ago, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases reversed the script, urging parents to feed their babies small doses of peanuts and other common allergens before the age of 6 months, even if they had previously Have been showing symptoms since. Immune sensitivities, such as eczema and other allergies. Hope this practice can help beat the development of allergies to punch.
And it seems to be working. A study published in the January issue of The Lancet found that small doses of peanut flour reduced severe symptoms in children 1 to 3 years of age with existing peanut allergies, and relieved allergies in 21% of children.
Food allergy remission more achievable than ever
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved Palforzia for the treatment of peanut allergy in children between the ages of 4 and 17 with advanced peanut allergies. This is a capsule that contains a small amount of peanut protein, which, over time and with consistent use, may help reduce the body’s reactions to peanuts. It doesn’t work in every case — and users must still carry their EpiPens — but this oral immunotherapy approach is promising. In the future, the researchers hope that it could be used to treat almost any food allergy.
