For some, Food Allergies Can Be a Matter of Life and Death
- Yery Alvarez
- Aug 24, 2019
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 27, 2019
For any child to enjoy a chocolate bar would be something delicious and pleasant, but not for someone who is allergic to dairy products. This is the case of an 11-year-old boy in the United Kingdom who died after consuming a chocolate bar, as was reported by the New York Postthis past July. Another food allergyfatality case happened in New York where a minor died while visiting relatives. The incident happened by breathing fish proteins that were released into the air; the New York Timesreported. There are many cases of children who lose their lives after consuming some type of food to which they are allergic to, it is the lack of awareness that is causing these fatalities.
According to an FDAreport More than 50 million Americans have an allergy of some kind. It is estimated that food allergies affect four to six percent of children and four percent of adults, as stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Valenta, 2015).Food allergies are related to any gender, age, ethnicity and geographic area, there are foods that cause most allergic reactions, including peanuts, milk and eggs.
But do you know what an allergyis? Allergy is a clinical reaction of the immune system. There are many people with different types of allergies that are sensitive to various factors that are in their environment. There are other types of food related allergies, these types of allergies occur when an individual is exposed or consumes certain types of food such as eggs, milk, peanuts, shellfish, nuts, etc.
When an individual suffers from allergies, he or she might have different types of reaction depending on the severity, such as a runny nose, sneezing, itching, difficulty breathing and may progress to anaphylaxis.
An acute allergy reaction is anaphylaxis, the very serious systemic allergic reaction that can affect more than two organs of the body and that, if not treated in time, it can cause death.
But for the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research allergiescan be cured or at least be minimized to prevent the patient from having acute adverse reactions and prevent death. Currently, the research center works with patients of all ages, seeking treatments and developing procedures in the patient in order to find a solution to this disease.
Dr. Álvarez, MD, PhD, MH, Director of Regulatory Affairs and Translational Medicine, explains that “Food allergies are increasingly common in children. This is due to the climatic changes that our planet suffers and that affect what we eat, our environment and our genes. The increase in allergies in the child population is the cause of the pathological factors that affect the general population. One of the most common food allergies are nut and peanut allergies, the exact cause of this allergic development does not yet exist, but it could be the genetic conditions of the human being that cause it in most cases, he explained.”
One of the most common questions among patients is: how can we avoid developing this type of food allergies in the population?
Dr. Álvarezfurther explains, “As a recommendation, I tell my patients that a balanced organic diet and an adequate lifestyle can help reduce the prevalence of some allergy symptoms, but this is not a complete prevention.
Food Allergies= From Yery Alvarez
I think we have made progress on this issue, and every time we approach the results we want in our patients, but it is still not enough, we have to work harder to achieve a cure for this problem that affects the world population." One of the options that parents are adopting is organic nutrition and paleo diet in children.
For many parents, organic foods are involved in decisions that can affect children, especially at an early age, www.viaorganica.org.
I think we have made progress on this issue, and every time we approach the results we want in our patients, but it is still not enough, we have to work harder to achieve a cure for this problem that affects the world population." One of the options that parents are adopting is organic nutrition and paleo diet in children. For many parents, organic foods are involved in decisions that can affect children, especially at an early age, www.viaorganica.org.
Dr. Sayantani Sindher, MD a StanfordPediatric Nutritionist tells us about why organic foods are really important. What is organic food? Organic foods are foods that meet the standards of organic agriculture. Organic agriculture presents practices that recycle resources, promote ecological balance and conserve organic biodiversity.
These products are made "without using conventional pesticides" or fertilizers made with synthetic or chemical ingredients that in the future can cause damage to the body, allergies or even asthma. Dr. Sayantani Sindher, MD a Stanford, also mentioned how a paleo diet and organic nutrition provides nutritional contributions to minors with great benefits to healthy growth among the child population.
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Therefore, it is very important the consumption of these organic products are better for health with statistics that show that by consuming these products we can have a low rate of development of diseases such as cancer, allergies and asthma, among others. The same importance in nutrition with the Paleo dietfor children's health and development is benefited by this new habit that many parents are adopting and eliminating sugar and carbohydrates, processed foods and junk food.
The low carb diet that includes meat, vegetables, low sugar fruit, seeds, nuts and natural fats is the priority of the Paleo diet. Many parents are welcoming this kind of healthy life for their children and even pediatric doctors are encouraging these types of food that provide the necessary nutrients for the proper development of children.
Today, biotechnologyand new research mechanisms in basic sciences and clinical researchhave been able to find some allergy markers and the use of oral immune therapies for the treatment of peanut allergy.
Another research treatment that has shown favorable results in patients is oral immune therapy and food challenge, have allowed new alternatives for the diagnosis and treatment of allergies. In many of the patients, allergies to a specific food can cause and develop allergies to other foods, there are patients with allergies to seven different foods.
That is how Rosa Paz tell us your experience:
At the age of 5 I was diagnosed with milk allergy, I suffered from different symptoms, which were very worrying, I could not breathe, hives came out, my lips were swollen and it was very difficult for me and my parents.
When they took me to Dr. give me the diagnosis they were allergic to milk. From that moment on everything changed at home. My Mother and all entire family could no longer consume this product out of fear and many things (food) could not consume them. Rosa says.
And this product is among the 10 allergic foods among children.
Lacteous the same that almonds contain proteins and elements that can be lethal to the patient. Milk allergy is an abnormal response of the immune system.
An allergic reaction can happen immediately after consuming this product. The signs and symptoms of allergy can vary between mild and severe levels, and may include wheezing, vomiting, and digestive problems. In many cases the allergy may disappear as the child grows but in Linda it was not.
For Linda, this disease has been suspended with treatments and medications to which she has undergone for 1 year.
"I feel good, I have really been able to tolerate this product and I live without fear of looking," Rosa says.
There are experimental treatments which consist of:
These treatments are evaluated and analyzed by experts who work for the cure for this disease.
For this reason, the specialist recommends avoiding risk factors such as pollution, forest fires (inhalation of this contaminated smoke), global warming and transgenic foods are high risk factors that will trigger allergies. Leading a healthy life, based on healthy eating and organic food consumption are the basis to avoid allergy symptoms.
Story, Photos, Video & Audio by Yery Alvarez
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