Using a Food Challenge To Deal With A Child Food Allergy
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that a child food allergy is more common than they had thought. In fact, in kids under 18, 12% tested positive for a milk allergy, 9% for a peanut allergy, 7% for an egg allergy and 5% for a shrimp allergy. Of course, these numbers may admittedly be over-inflated because their 2005-2006 sampling only showed that the kids tested positive for the presence of immunoglobulin E antibodies, which doesn’t necessarily mean they will have allergies. Additionally, these numbers also include those with digestive disorders (which is different than the immune system response of an allergy). Experts suspect that one-tenth of the children who test positive for the IgE antibodies will have a reaction.
It was once assumed that the only way to treat a child food allergy was to refrain from any contact with that food for the remainder of one’s life. For people who test positive for allergies to dairy, milk, pork, chicken, barley, rice, oats, beans, wheat and eggs, this prognosis can feel like a death sentence. Yet a fresh approach is being implemented in a number of allergy clinics throughout America. A number of patients respond to a food challenge, which incrementally raises the patient’s intake of the allergen until tolerance is reached.
The only way to truly tell if a child food allergy is present is to give the child the suspected food and wait for a reaction. Naturally, many parents are hesitant to have their child ingest what could be a fatal dose of food that results in anaphylactic shock. Sometimes doctors will recommend a skin prick test or giving the child a very, very small dose of the suspected allergen in a clinical setting. For instance, a child with a suspected allergy to peanuts may be asked to try one-tenth of the amount of peanut protein found in the average nut. Gradually, that amount can be increased to see where the tolerance threshold lies. Some kids will continue having allergies for the rest of their lives, while others may simply overcome their hypersensitivity.
The most important part of diagnosing a child food allergy is to check the child’s food history. “What was eaten? What sort of reaction did he have?” the health practitioner will ask. Then, the health care provider may prescribe a skin-prick test or blood test for extra verification. “If you come to me and say, ‘My child ate a peanut butter sandwich and within 15 minutes, his lips turned blue, he got hives and threw up,’ that’s sufficient to tell me the child has a peanut allergy,” says Dr. Hugh Sampson of Mount Sinai School of Medicine. “The more classic history is that they were eating a meal and he had this horrible reaction and they think it’s peanuts. It’s important to perform a skin or blood test to make certain.”
More often than not, a child food allergy is little more than an overreaction. “I see it all the time. A family goes in for one thing and comes back with a laundry list of foods they are supposedly allergic to,” says Jodi Stokes, who runs a support group for allergic families in Charlotte, North Carolina. “I tell them to go to a board-certified allergist who knows how to interpret these tests.”
If you’re concerned about the possibility of a kids food allergy, visit our site on Food Allergies in Children for the facts you need.