June 2010 NewsReport

By: Allergic Living

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Has food allergy become the life-threat- ening disease that gets no respect? Gwen Smith, the editor of Allergic Living, thinks so in an opinion article for CBC.ca. The cause of her concern: widespread media misinformation that 30 per cent of the U.S. population “thinks” they have food allergies while, as we all know, far fewer actually have food allergies.
The 30 per cent statistic was supposed to come out of a medical review for The Journal of the American Medical Association. Only problem: it isn’t in the review, and the spokesman for that paper says it’s wrong. Overshadowed, meanwhile, are two brand new studies of food allergy prevalence that paint a picture of a fast-rising and difficult disease. To Smith, the issue is not simply media accuracy, but the damage done to food allergy as a disease that needs much more research and greater public awareness. Instead, confusion reigns.

Read Gwen Smith’s article.

New Canadian data reveal that between 6 and 8 per cent of us are food allergic. In the United States, peanut and nut allergies in children more than tripled in 2008 compared to 1997.
View article

Peek Inside Summer Issue

A new way of treating milk and egg allergy is starting to emerge, led by research at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and being carried out in clinical practice at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. There, close to 200 children with egg or milk allergies are introducing baked milk or egg into their diets in extensively cooked foods: something researchers think 75 per cent of children with these allergies can tolerate. Some kids with previously severe reactions to milk have gone on to try foods that have been baked for less time, like pizza. Some have even graduated to eating yogurt and drinking chocolate milk. View article

Scientists in Germany see evidence of a link between babies born by caesarean section and the development of celiac disease. They find that the same relationship doesn’t exist between caeseareans and other inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The celiac diseae was also diagnosed at a younger age than the other conditions. more

Samantha Yaffe’s irreverent web column on motherhood with food allergies. This Month: An Asthma Plan Out the Window

Talk about yikes. Sam is thrown a curveball when her son Lucas has an asthma attack at a friend’s “pet-free” house: turns out the previous owners had a dog. Lucas’s asthma triggers used to seem both avoidable and manageable, but Sam is suddenly concerned about whether she’s got the asthma bases covered. Now, another friend has invited Lucas for a sleepover. He desperately wants to go, but that family has two cats. Sam’s focus had been life-threatening allergies, but now she’s rethinking her asthma approach. And she needs your advice. more

The summer heat and smog can be tough on anyone, but if you’ve got asthma you have to be even more careful out there. Before heading out on hot summer days be sure to check the Air Quality Health Index report for your area.