FAQs on Food Allergies

With food allergies in children becoming more common, I thought it would be useful to answer some of the most frequently asked questions parents have about food allergies.


What is a food allergy?
When someone has a food allergy, their body actually believes that a particular food is harming them. As a response, the body tries to attack the food by setting off an allergic response. Responses can be mild, from a rash to an upset stomach, or severe, which is actually called an anaphylactic reaction and can be deadly.

What causes food allergies?
It is hard to tell exactly what causes food allergies, but we do know that they tend to run in families. Parents that have any form of allergy are at higher risk for having children with food allergies.

What are the symptoms of food allergies?
There are a wide variety of symptoms related to food allergies ranging from mild to severe.

Some examples are:

• cramps, upset stomach
• nausea or diarrea
• itchy skin
• rash or hives
• tingling or swelling in the lips
• stuffy/runny nose

Symptoms usually begin within a couple of hours of eating the problem food. As a rule of thumb, the sooner the symptoms appear, the more severe the reaction.

The most serious symptoms are those related to anaphylaxis.

These symptoms include:

• throat and tongue that swell quickly
• wheezing and difficulty breathing
• vomiting
• fainting

If your child begins to experience these symptoms, call immediately for medical help.


What are the most common foods that children are allergic to?

The most common causes of food allergies in children are:

• eggs
• milk
• wheat
• soy
• peanuts

The good news is that many kids outgrow food allergies before the age of five. An estimated 80 percent of children with allergies to egg, milk, wheat, and soy will outgrow them. However, only 20 percent of children outgrow a peanut allergy.

What is the difference between a food allergy and food intolerance?
Many people confuse food intolerance with food allergies. Food intolerances are actually very common and can cause some of the same symptoms as a mild food allergy, such as upset stomach and diarrhea. A food intolerance is much less serious and does not involve the immune system like an allergy does. The symptoms of a food intolerance are digestive only and generally don't appear until several hours after a food is eaten.

How are food allergies diagnosed?
Your pediatrician will probably start with a simple history. He or she may have you keep a log of what the child eats and when certain symptoms occur to determine what food may be causing problems.

If your child has a serious food allergy, the pediatrician will probably do an allergy skin test. The doctor puts a little drop of liquid on the skin and then pricks the skin to see if the area swells and reacts to the liquid. The doctor may also do a blood test to look at chemicals in the blood that are triggering the allergic reaction.

How are food allergies treated?
The best and most common treatment is to quit eating foods that cause the allergic reaction. However, this can be difficult for parents who have to start reading food labels and readjust their family meals to accommodate the child. If the food is eaten, some children benefit from an over-the-counter antihistamine like Benadryl.

If your child has a severe food allergy, the pediatrician will often prescribe an allergy kit that contains an EpiPen. The pen gives the child a shot of epinepherine, which can slow down or stop the severe allergic reaction from happening. Children with serious food allergies should wear a medical alert bracelet and have the pen available to them to all times.

Can food allergies be prevented?
Research is showing that the only possible prevention is to hold off on introducing all solid foods until your baby is at least 4 to 6 months old. Your pediatrician can give you a schedule on when and how to introduce solid foods into your baby's diet, but it is important to remember to introduce foods one at a time, so that you are able to recognize if there are any foods that may cause problems.

Raising a Child with Food Allergies

The number of children being diagnosed with food allergies is rising. Adapting to daily life with a child who has food allergies can be a challenge for many parents. Today's post comes from Christine George, who shares her personal experience with raising a son with food allergies. Our next post will focus on diagnosing and treating children with food allergies.

I looked at the doctor with wide eyes as he pulled out an EpiPen without the needle and demonstrated how to use it on his own thigh. “If you know he has eaten a peanut, you give him the EpiPen right away and take him straight to the ER. If he doesn’t have any reaction, or if his symptoms subside, you can wait outside the ER for up to an hour to be sure he’s okay before you take him home.”

Three years ago I never thought to ask someone if they had food allergies before I brought over a plate of cookies or gave some kids a snack. It wasn’t until our first child was 7 months old that I was introduced to the world of food allergies. Our baby screamed and broke out in bright red hives when we tried to give him milk-based formula. The same thing happened on another occasion the first time he tried eggs. We decided to visit an allergist. Tests indicated he was allergic to milk, eggs, peanuts, and several tree nuts. The allergist told us to avoid these foods entirely.

I remember walking out of the allergist’s office feeling overwhelmed. I didn’t even know where to start asking questions. What on earth was I supposed to feed this child?? I spent a lot of time on the computer researching food allergies and trying to understand how to work with our new family challenge. While there was a lot of information about what food allergies were and what foods to avoid, it was much harder to find helpful information about what foods were okay for my son to eat.

As our son got older, family meals became more of a problem. He began eating more and was very interested in whatever we were eating. I didn’t have time to cook two different meals every day, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him no every time he asked for something. I started searching for recipes that would accommodate his existing allergies but would also work for the rest of us. While it was fairly easy to find recipes that were free of dairy or nuts, it was very difficult to find recipes free of dairy, eggs, and nuts. I resorted to vegan recipes for a while, but my family wasn’t very fond of tofu or cheese alternatives—they just don’t taste good! Over time we learned to alter our own recipes and adopted new ones that passed the family test. It has taken a lot of effort, but we’ve finally found enough recipes that we can eat together as a family.

Eating out is still a challenge. We don’t go out to eat very often because of the difficulty in finding allergy-free food for our son, especially since he’s a picky toddler in addition to his food allergies! However, many large restaurants have recently created menus for people with food allergies so you can easily find something without having to ask the waiter about every ingredient in the dish.

Social eating has been our biggest struggle. In nearly every gathering, event, or celebration, there is food. Our son is now three and doesn’t quite understand why he can’t have what everyone else has. In many cases I am able to find out ahead of time what food will be at a social event we are going to attend, and I make the same item and bring it with us. It is a lot of work, but it’s worth it for him to feel included.

My husband and I have spent so much time trying to understand our son’s food allergies and learning how to deal with the social implications. I wanted to share what I have learned with others so maybe a few parents out there would have an easier time adjusting to the lifestyle change required by a family member with food allergies. We developed a Web site called EatAllergyFree.com, where you can share recipes, look up allergy-free products, get ingredient substitutions, find allergy-free menus for many restaurants, and share comments and ideas with others in the same situation. It’s a resource we wished we had since the beginning, and we hope it will be of use to others struggling with adjusting to a food-allergy life.