Food Allergies

One of the first tips you’ll hear when your child is diagnosed with a food allergy is to get in the habit of always checking food labels for allergens. Companies in the US are required to list their ingredients and so you can get a good idea of what is in a product and whether or not your child’s allergen is present just by checking the food label.
That being said, not every ingredient is required to be on labels. Companies can change their ingredients without notifying consumers. It can be a lot more work than it sounds.

While people with celiac disease and wheat allergy both need to avoid wheat, there are differences between the 2 diagnoses. Both trigger an immune response, but they present in very different ways. It is estimated that around 1% of the population has celiac disease.

If you went through the process of introducing the top 9 allergens to your child and found that they have a food allergy (or multiple allergies), you may be wondering what to do. Of course the simple answer is avoid the allergen, but real life is often way more complicated.

Like with many of the food allergy articles I write, I will be focusing on IgE-mediated allergies. Some of the principles will apply to non-IgE mediated allergies, like FPIES, but certain aspects, like reactions may vary.

Egg allergy is one of the most common allergies in children, but most children will eventually outgrow their allergy. It is estimated that by age 6, up to 71% of children will outgrow their egg allergy. This does mean that almost 30% of people will remain allergic to eggs for their entire lives.
Of the children with an egg allergy, up to 70% will tolerate egg baked into food. When you heat the egg, you can break up the protein enough so that the body doesn’t recognize it as a threat. Consuming eggs in baked foods consistently over time may lead to resolution of an egg allergy over time.

Wheat allergy may affect up to 1% of children in the US. Up to two thirds of children with a wheat allergy may outgrow it by the time they are 12 years old.
It is different from celiac disease which is an autoimmune system that often affects the gastrointestinal tract.

Milk allergy is the most common allergy in infants and young children, affecting around 2.5% of children under the age of 3. There are actually 2 categories of milk allergies: IgE mediated and non-IgE mediated. We often see non-IgE mediated milk allergy in young infants and many will outgrow it by their first birthday. This article, however, will be focusing on IgE mediated milk allergy.

When a person with milk allergy is exposed to the proteins in milk, the proteins bind to IgE antibodies that trigger the immune system, causing a reaction. Up to 70% of children with this allergy can tolerate milk baked into foods. Once the milk has been heated, it changes the structure of the protein enough so that the body doesn’t respond to it. Tolerating baked milk while young is a good sign that a child may outgrow their milk allergy. Up to 75% of children will outgrow their milk allergy.

Shellfish allergies are the most common food allergies in adults and a common allergy in children as well (1). It is incredibly rare for someone to outgrow a shellfish allergy. The most common shellfish allergy is an allergy to shrimp. Similar to fish, many people (about 60%) will not experience their first reaction until they are adults.