Managing Childhood Food Allergies – Make Your Kitchen Work for You

 

Written by Jenny Catton

 

Discovering that your child has a food allergy is never easy. And if they have multiple allergies or a severe allergy to certain ingredients, it will probably mean making lots of changes to how you arrange your kitchen. You will want to consider everything from how you store food and prepare meals to how you plan family mealtimes. But once you get into a routine, dealing with an allergy doesn’t have to be stressful.

 

Common food allergies include allergies to dairy, gluten, eggs, nuts, fish and soy. It might not be practical to remove these from your kitchen entirely – particularly if you have other children at home. However, there are a number of simple things you can do in the kitchen to make managing food allergies easier.

 

A common concernfor parents ishow to avoid cross-contamination between different food types. This might sound like a challenge but with a little planning and clever organisation, you can protect your child from allergens whilst maintaining normal mealtimes and eating habits for the whole family.

 

Here are seven ways you can use your kitchen to help manage food allergies:

 

Clear the Clutter
Reduce the clutter on your worktops to an absolute minimum. This way you’ll be able to clearly see what ingredients and utensils you are using, making it easier to avoid cross-contamination. Less clutter also means less hidden spaces for food crumbs to lurk.

 

Create an Allergy-friendly Cupboard
Designate a cupboard, fridge shelf or storage space specifically for the person with the allergies. Here you can store everyday ingredients plus utensils, crockery and cutlery that is just for them.

 

Introduce Zones at the Dining Table
Ensure the allergy sufferer always sits at the same space at the dining table. This means even if you serve a meal before everyone has arrived at the table, you’ll know each person is going to get the right plate. It also makes cleaning the table at the end of a meal easier as you can clean their area first to avoid cross-contamination from dishcloths.

 

Keep Cleaning Products to Hand
Keep your cleaning products on your counter top so that they are easy to reach if you need them while preparing or serving a meal.

 

Know Where Emergency Medication Is
People often store allergy medication in handbags or bathrooms but it might be better to store it in the kitchen or dining room as this is usually where an allergic reaction is most likely to occur.

 

Use your Freezer
It can be frustrating for children to see their siblings arrive home with unexpected treats that they are not allowed to share so keep a stash of suitable treats in your freezer which you can quickly take out and defrost so that they don’t need to miss out.

 

Pin Up the Rules
If a food allergy has recently been diagnosed, it may take a while to adjust to a new routine. Use a noticeboard in your kitchen to keep a visible list of what is – and what’s not, allowed.

 

Remember, every individual is different so always ask your doctor or health professional for specific advice when organising your kitchen and dining routines.

 

For more information about food allergies, visit: www.allergyuk.org

 

Categories: allergies, avoid cross, Cleaning Products, cross contamination, dining table, Food, food allergies, food allergy, kitchen

Is Your Child Being Bullied Because of a Food Allergy?

While food allergies are already a health concern for children, if your child does suffer with allergies their wellbeing may be under threat in other ways; bullying. This is according to a new study, published in the journal Paediatrics, which found that many children with food allergies may be bullied at school – sometimes with potentially dangerous threats to their physical health.

 

As a result of the study, which focused on 251 families at a New York City allergy clinic, the researchers found that about one-third of kids said they’d been bullied specifically because of their food allergy. More often than not, the bullying took place at school in the form of teasing. However, there were many cases in which bullies threatened their victims with the food to which they were allergic – waving it in front of them, throwing it at them or saying they would sneak it into their other food. Dr. Jay Lieberman, an assistant professor of paediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Centre, in Memphis, who was not involved in the study, explained, ‘With food allergies, that kind of bullying does carry a theoretical physical risk.’

 

If a child with a food allergy eats the offensive food, their wellness can be affected by hives, swollen lips, stomach pain and even potentially life-threatening reactions in which the child can’t breathe and their blood pressure plummets. Fortunately, these severe reactions are rare, says lead researcher Dr. Eyal Shemesh, an associate professor of paediatrics and psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, in New York City, as parents of food-allergic kids are usually vigilant about avoiding the culprit foods. She explains, ‘What really affects these children’s lives is everything that surrounds the allergy – the food avoidance, the anxiety,’ and the bullying.

 

If other children have to avoid bringing peanut butter to school, for example, they may resent the child who’s allergic. Even in small amounts, peanuts can cause a serious allergic reaction, even through simple skin contact with a peanut. Therefore, both Shemesh and Lieberman note the importance of parents, schools and doctors being aware that food allergies can make kids a target for bullying. When the researchers asked the children about their quality of life – including their emotional wellbeing and how they were getting along at school – children who were bullied reported a lower quality of life than their food-allergic peers who were not targeted.

 

The interesting distinction was that, among the kids who were bullied, those who’d told their parents reported a better quality of life. As to why that was, the researchers remain unclear. Shemesh comments, ‘I don’t know if the parents did something about the bullying. I just know they knew about it.’ Whether the parents called the school or otherwise helped their child, or the kids just felt better after talking with their parents, Shemesh recommends that parents ask their children if other kids have ever bothered them about their food allergy. He also advises educating all children on how serious food allergies are.

 

Dr. Mark Schuster, chief of general paediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital, agrees that education about food allergies – for kids and adults – could help. ‘When it comes to food allergy, people often roll their eyes,’ Schuster says. ‘They think that kids are just trying to avoid a food they don’t like. And they may not understand that food allergies can be serious.’ He adds that parents of the children with food allergies also need to be aware of the signs of bullying, such as your child not wanting to go to school, appearing down, and complaining of chronic stomach aches or headaches.

Categories: allergies, bullying, Children, Food, food allergic, food allergies, food allergy, Kids, Parents, Research, york city

Can You Identify An Allergy To Shellfish?

Over recent years the levels of fish and seafood consumption has increased dramatically, partly due to the concerns about fat and cholesterol in our diets. Because fish is seen as the healthier and low fat option, people are choosing it far more over red meat – it also offers bountiful doses of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, which is an added bonus to our health. As this has increased, so too have the numbers of people who are allergic to it. Fish allergies affect around one in 200 people, and shellfish allergy symptoms  (such as prawns and crabs) are more common with one percent of the population in significant shellfish consumptions. A seafood allergy is more common amongst adults than children, and isn’t as common as milk or peanut allergies. Those who have an allergy to this form of food tend to have it for the rest of their lives. But how can you spot it?

As with other foods, the symptoms include nausea and sickness, abdominal cramps, wheezing, flushing or swelling of the skin, urticarial rashes and diarrhoea, and even fatalities in some extreme cases. It’s fairly uncommon for people to have an allergic reaction to just the smell of a food, though many people complain of such a symptom. However, in shellfish allergies, this is not the case – around 15 percent of people with a seafood allergy can react just to vapours and steam produced during cooking, in particular with BBQ and grilling. This is a chemical reaction, as fish and shellfish release small proteins known as amines during cooking, which lead to people inhaling them. This causes a reaction that’s quite unlike other food allergies. Surveys suggest that after nut allergies, seafood is the most common for severe reactions, known as anaphylaxis. In a report based on 167 children with seafood allergies, over one in five had experienced a severe reaction to the food.

Most people with allergies to crustaceans, such as prawns, are still able to eat finned fish. Similarly, people who are allergic to tuna can often eat prawns – a cross-reactivity within a class is common, though, for some people who are allergic to a fish such as salmon generally have to avoid all finned fish. This is the same for people with a crustacean-allergy when eating oysters and squid, as studies suggest that there could be cross-sensitivity with these foods. This cross-reactivity tends to be more common in children than adults – it’s for this reason that children with seafood allergies need an allergy assessment in order to determine which other forms of fish and shellfish that are allergic to and need to avoid.

If you notice that you get symptoms akin to other allergies when fish or seafood is cooking, this can be a sign, as previously mentioned. Patients with a long history of severe reactions to crustacea should avoid locations where these foods are cooked and served, as it can trigger allergic reactions which could prove to be fatal in severe cases. Interestingly, reports suggest that up to 20 percent of people who are allergic to fish can tolerate it when it is canned, such as tuna. The canning process involves extensive heating in order to preserve the food, which can destroy the protein that many are allergic to. However, it’s not worth risking it as four out of five people will still have a reaction. If you suspect you may have an allergy to fish or shellfish, it’s worth speaking to your GP in order to determine if this is the case. You may require an allergy testing in order to diagnose it.

Categories: diet, food allergy, intolerance