<p>Children with allergic parents are more prone to food allergy. Determine your child’s risk level today!</p>
Does your child suffer from food allergies?
What can you do? It comes as no surprise—with the increased variety of foods we are ingesting today, food allergy is on the rise. From food additives to genetically modified food, it is now harder to know how fresh our food is and what is in it. Even though food allergy affects all age groups, infants are more likely to develop food allergies because of their less mature digestive and immune system. Get the facts about food allergies and find out what you can do if your child is allergic.
What is a Food Allergy?
A food allergy reaction occurs when the immune system decides that a particular protein, which most people find completely harmless—is dangerous and releases chemicals to defend the body. These defense chemicals produce symptoms, such as inflammation and irritation.
Common allergic reactions are:
• Sneezing
• Runny Nose
• Itchy eyes and/or ears
• Breathing problems
• Sinus problems
• Sore mouth
• Rash
Too itchy to bear? Calamine lotion helps soothe rashes.
These symptoms do not always mean your child has an allergy. The easiest way to spot and allergy is when the reaction is the same every time a certain type of food is ingested—it should occur within seconds or minutes.
The most severe of allergic reactions is an anaphylactic shock. An anaphylactic shock is an all-body response that kicks off with a rash, swelling in the throat that can sometimes cut off airways, and plummeting blood pressure. If you child has asthma, that will kick in too. This severe reaction is life-threatening and can happen even if your child’s previous reaction to the food was very mild. When this happens, call for an ambulance immediately. For serious cases of anaphylactic shock, a child may be prescribed an EpiPen, which is used to inject adrenaline into the body to relax their airways and muscles.
What causes it?
Most young children commonly react to the following foods:
• Milk
• Eggs
• Peanuts
• Nuts from trees (almonds, hazelnuts, etc)
• Fish
• Shellfish
• Soya
• Wheat
Many studies have shown 80 percent of children who were hypersensitive to milk at one point outgrew the problem by the age of 3; the same was true for half the children with egg hypersensitivity. According to the Malaysian Society of Allergy and Immunology (MSAI), allergenic foods should be avoided until the baby is at least a year old. Breast feeding remains the best option to building your child’s immune system. However, avoid taking allergenic foods and refrain from smoking while doing so.
Should your child show any kind of allergic reaction to a food, take him to your doctor and press for a referral to a consultant if you feel your child needs more help.
According to MSAI, risk of developing allergies based on family history is:
• Both parents without allergies : 5-15% chance
• One parents with allergies : 20-40% chance
• Both parents with allergies : 40-60% chance
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