Category: Eczema Tips

This blog has always been focused on eczema, rather than allergy. However, I came across a very good book by Dr Wayne Shreffler and Dr Qian Yuan on ‘Understanding your food allergies and intolerances‘ and found that it clarified many food allergy concepts. Thus, this 4-part series is to share that knowledge with you!

For the past 2 weeks, we’ve covered

• Food Allergy vs Food Intolerance
• Top 10 Kids’ Allergy/ Food Sensitivities Myths

This week, I’m doing something totally unscientific – I’m compiling all statistics I find online on outgrowing allergies to lay out in a graphical representation of  WHAT AGE will a CHILD (likely!) OUTGROW FOOD ALLERGY! It’s definitely not scientific because each study/report has a different focus but just to save time for you (paranoid moms and dads who would try to do the same), I figure I might as well make an attempt!

While reading up on outgrowing food allergies, I’ve found some interesting food allergy facts!

Fact #1 Shellfish allergy onset later in life (6 years and older) and usually lifelong. Same for fish allergy.

Fact #2 Shellfish allergy IS NOT THE SAME as fish allergy.

Fact #3: Shrimp, lobsters and crabs are more allergic than mollusks such as scallops, oysters, clams and mussels.

Fact #4: Allergy to one type of (fin)fish does not mean allergic to another BUT study in 2004’s Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found that 30% of children and approximately 66% of adults reacted to multiple types of fin fish.

Fact #5: More women than men are allergic to fish (0.6% vs. 0.2%).

Fact #6: Egg allergy is most closely associated with eczema, among the other food allergens. (Does not mean that egg allergy is most likely the trigger for your child’s eczema, as house dust mite is the more likely suspect for older children)

Fact #7: You can be allergic to either egg white or yolk or both but avoid the whole egg as it’s not possible to ensure clean separation.

Fact #8: Eggs and Milk cooked under intense heat (say baking cakes) seem to be more well-tolerated but don’t experiment without doctor’s advice (study here).

Fact #9: Soy allergy tend to be mild

Fact #10: Highly refined soybean oil (not cold pressed, expeller pressed, or extruded oil) and soy lecithin is usually tolerated by people with soy allergy.

Fact #11: Food allergies developed from young (except peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish and fish) are more likely to be outgrown versus food allergies developed as a teenager or adult, which tend to be lifelong.

Fact #12: 26.6% of children outgrew their allergies by age 5.4.

Fact #13: The more severe the allergic reaction, the less likely to be outgrown.

Fact #14: Mean age of tolerance for egg allergy was age of 7.2; Milk 6 years; Tree Nut 9.6; Shellfish 11.6; Soy 7; Fin fish 9.3; Peanuts 8.4

Fact #15: Boys are more likely to outgrow allergies than girls.

When researching for this post, I actually found quite a number of websites carrying misinformation or unclear information where it’s either proven wrong in later studies (for instance, to delay introduction of foods) or information relating to intolerance being grouped as food allergy information (such as only larger amounts of food trigger a reaction).

Another ‘sad’ news is that there is a study that children can develop a second (different) reaction to foods that they have outgrown. This is a study on Eosinophilic Esophagitis or EoE where it was found that 17 out of 1,025 patients in the study had initially outgrown IgE-mediated reaction to the foods but now suffer from EoE reaction (see AllergicLiving.com for their interview with the researchers of the study). EoE is an inflammation at the esophagus due to increase of eosinophil cells, leading to narrowing of the esophagus.

Hope whatever age your child is, your family is managing the food allergies well. Share your outgrowing age below!

Sources:

1. ACAAI
2. RaiseHealthyEaters (post by Dr Joneja)
3. FARE
4. Mayo Clinic
5. Medscape
6. Studies (egg) here and here

This blog has always been focused on eczema, rather than allergy. However, I came across a very good book by Dr Wayne Shreffler and Dr Qian Yuan on ‘Understanding your food allergies and intolerances‘ and found that it clarified many food allergy concepts. Thus, this 4-part series is to share that knowledge with you!

Last week, we clarified Food Allergy vs Food Intolerance which gave an overview of the differences between the two. Today we can put this to test by tackling these Kids’ Food Sensitivity Myths!

Myth #1: This Food Doesn’t Agree with Me, I’m Allergic to It!

This actually reminds me of my hubby (lol), most times we don’t agree (that is when we actually talk!) but no, I’m not allergic to him (hopefully he thinks the same!). As explained in last week’s post, food sensitivity can be either in the form of allergy or intolerance. Some doctors also allow for a 3^rd category of food sensitivity, when they can’t classify it as either an allergic reaction or find the chemical the body is intolerant to.

However, these days, there’s almost a ‘cool’ factor to say you’re allergic to something. So while it is possible that more people think or say they have an allergy than they really have, food intolerance/sensitivity may also be underestimated as they are hard to diagnose. Do note too that adults can also have an onset of allergy at an older age, esp for certain allergy like shellfish.

Myth #2: Food intolerances can be tested using IgG antibodies test

There are many IgG tests available online and generally the medical community is against this test for identifying food sensitivity. The main reason is that elevated IgE implies an exposure to the food rather than an allergy to the food. Also while 80% of the foods are the common suspects in allergy, IgG test may test hundreds of foods and with false positives, lead to harmful elimination diet.

Myth #3: You are either Allergic or Intolerant

For some individuals the same foods can trigger both food allergy and intolerance. For instance, there can be an allergy to the milk protein while also lacking lactase digestive enzyme to break down lactose. This is why it is important to consult a specialist as it is not easy to figure it out on your own.

Myth #4: You can eat JUST A LITTLE of the sensitive food

This falls back to last week’s explanation of food allergy and intolerance. For severe food allergy, smelling the food can trigger a reaction, and it can be fatal one like anaphylactic reaction (that’s why there is so much debate about peanuts on plane!). However, for food intolerance, some people can eat certain amounts or in certain forms, e.g. food cooked with milk (I tried this fish recipe before, tasted horrible!) may give a different reaction to drinking milk.

Myth #5: I feel Bloated, I’m Allergic!

Bloating is more closely related to food intolerance but eating gassy foods cause bloating too. Pregnant women suffer more from bloating and constipation due to pregnancy hormones leading to relaxation of gastrointestinal wall muscles, thus foods stay in the tract longer.

Myth #6: I didn’t eat the food, how can I be allergic to it?

Food sensitization is when the body first comes into contact with the food protein and the body then ‘tag’ it as an enemy. The next time even small amounts of the food (in some cases, touched or smelled) can trigger an allergic reaction. So smelling peanuts on plane, touching or shaking hands with another child with peanut butter trace on hands can lead to an allergic reaction.

Myth #7: Delaying food introduction to a child can prevent the food allergy

Based on updated studies, the recommendation to delay introduction of common food allergens (usually peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish) is now revoked. The studies were contradictory – some showed late introduction helped as the child’s immune system is stronger while others showed early introduction helped as the child builds an immunity to it earlier. Thus the current recommendation is Just Eat (Whatever) a Balanced Diet. An update on a study on early introduction of eggs done in August 2015 showed that the elevated immune responses to egg were established prior to egg ingestion at 4 months and were not affected by whether eggs were introduced early.

Myth #8: Allergy testing is 100% accurate

Allergy testing (skin prick and IgE) is fairly accurate but not 100%. The only gold standard in food allergy testing is the oral food challenge. However due to the difficulty of conducting the oral food challenge (involves hospital stay), doctors form a diagnosis based on corroborated ‘evidence’, for instance the test results, parents’ observations and doctor’s knowledge of food allergens, family history.

Myth #9: Organic Foods are Safer

Organic foods (only the properly certified ones) may be safer in terms of free from pesticides but not safer in terms of allergic reaction to the food protein. Organic or not, the food protein is still present. For some people, peeling the fruit’s skin or cooking in a different way may help.

Myth #10: Allergy test can tell how Allergic you are

Allergy testing only tells you if you have an allergy, but it cannot predict the severity of the reaction. For instance, (see this previous post), the size of the wheal from skin prick test does not correlate with the reaction you will have.                                                                                                   

This blog has always been focused on eczema, rather than allergy. However, I came across a very good book by Dr Wayne Shreffler and Dr Qian Yuan on ‘Understanding your food allergies and intolerances‘ and found that it clarified many food allergy concepts. Thus, this 4-part series is to share that knowledge with you!

Each week is a different concept de-mystified, so let’s get started!

Kids Food Sensitivities – What is Sensitivity?

What does it mean to be sensitive to a food? In layman’s term, it could mean a range of symptoms from headaches to tummy upset, but medically, it covers two main terms:

Food Allergy and Food Intolerance – both have similar symptoms but the cause and treatment is different, which is why it is important to differentiate the two.

As seen above, there are distinct differences between food allergy and food intolerance although the symptoms of both are similar. However, to be concerned that there is indeed a food sensitivity issue, there has to be a reproducible reaction with the food – i.e. not referring to a one-time stomach upset after eating prawns in the past year (that might be food poisoning!).

The diagnosis of food intolerance is generally difficult, except for lack of digestive enzymes lactase, frutase and sucrase. The lack of the digestive enzymes result in lactose, fructose and sucrose not being broken down and result in pain, bloating, spasm and diarrhea.  Even stress or anxiety associated with a certain food can cause an intolerance.On the other hand, symptoms such as swelling are closely associated with allergic reaction.

The diagnosis of immediate food allergy is more straight forward than delayed food allergy, with allergy testing and blood test to detect elevated levels if immunoglobulin E (IgE). The common food allergens differ in different country (taken from allergyuk.org)

• Worldwide – milk, egg
• USA, UK, Australia – peanut and tree nuts
• France – mustard seed
• Italy, Spain – peach, apple, shellfish
• Israel – sesame
• Spain, Japan – fish
• Japan – buckwheat
• Singapore – birds’ nest, shellfish

For those in Singapore, it is interesting that fish isn’t on our list of common food allergens possibly due to it being so much part of our diet. Birds’ nest on the other hand is given as ‘tonic’ to children early and may actually trigger an allergy!

Treatment wise – for both food allergy and food intolerance, avoidance is key. For food allergy, children can undergo another allergy test to see if they have ‘outgrown’ it. For food intolerance which usually does not result in fatal reaction, small amounts of food can be re-introduced in different forms to see which form/amount can be tolerated. There is no cure for allergy or intolerance; however, for certain food intolerance, enzyme supplements can be taken beforehand to digest the food to be ingested e.g. lactose.

Here’s a graphic for recap!