So your little one has just been diagnosed with a milk or food allergy and you’re already wondering when (or even if) he or she will finally outgrow it.  As much as your new elemental formula and allergen-friendly diet is helping, you can’t help but wonder when you can feed your child without anxiety.  Don’t worry, you’re not alone!

Good news – It is possible for children to outgrow their allergies; however, it may depend on what the child is allergic to and the type of allergy.  Most importantly, keep in mind that all children are different! 

Children with cow’s milk allergy (CMA) may be more likely to outgrow their allergies than their peanut or tree nut allergy buddies.  Studies have shown that about 45-50% of children outgrow a CMA at one year, 60-75% at two years and 85-90% at three years.[1]^,[2]

Now, compare that to the studies which show that about 20% and 10%, respectively, of young patients may outgrow peanut and tree nut allergies and approximately 8% of patients who outgrow a peanut allergy relapse.  Additionally, nut related allergies are typically more severe and can even be fatal, which is quite scary![3]

If your little one has multiple protein allergies, such as both CMA and nut related allergies, he or she may outgrow the CMA while the nut related allergy could still persist.  Still, outgrowing an allergy to cow’s milk will expand their diet and improve the quality of life and available foods for your little one. 

The other factor that may influence your little one’s ability to outgrow an allergy is the levels of allergen-specific IgE detected in their blood.  This means, the lower the allergen-specific IgE detected, the greater the chance of outgrowing the allergy.  Your doctor can monitor this with either blood or skin prick tests. 

As I mentioned before, all children are different.  Your little one may have all the right “ingredients” to overcome their allergy, but they may be doing it at their own pace.  Your doctor may decide to attempt a food trial by introducing some foods that your child is allergic to, in order to see if the allergy still persists.  Be patient, sometimes food trials can be taxing. 

As many of you know, I suffered from CMA growing up and over time, I was finally able to consume milk products.  It happened gradually -first I stopped having a reaction when consuming cheese (most likely because it’s processed, so my immune system didn’t recognize the milk proteins as allergens) and then I could finally add in other foods that were previously not allowed in my diet.

So my advice to all of you new allergy parents is don’t worry, there is a light at the end of the tunnel!  To the more experienced allergy parents, can you shed any advice on food trials and outgrowing allergies?

- Nita

[2] de Boissieu D, Dupont C. Allergy to extensively hydrolyzed cow’s milk proteins in infants: safety and duration of amino acid-based formula. : J Pediatr. 2002;141:271-3.

[3] The natural history of peanut and tree nut allergy. Fleischer DM. Curr Allergy Asthma Rep. 2007 Jun;7(3):175-81. Review.

January is coming to a close (I can’t believe January is almost over!), so we will end our Vitamin Series with a run through of the vitamins we haven’t discussed yet. We have already covered Vitamin D, Calcium, and all of the B vitamins. (Calcium snuck its way into the Vitamin Series even though it is a mineral because it is very closely linked with Vitamin D).

As you may recall, the B vitamins are all water soluble. Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid) is also water soluble and acts as an antioxidant. In addition, vitamin C is important for wound healing. A deficiency in vitamin C, results in a disease called scurvy.

• Good sources of vitamin C are colorful fruits and veggies such as red peppers, broccoli and strawberries.

You may notice lots of fruit juices out in the market have added vitamin C, as a result deficiencies in this vitamin are rare in today’s world.

Vitamins can be either water soluble or they can be fat soluble. Vitamins D, E, K, and A are all fat soluble vitamins. These vitamins are absorbed into the GI tract with the help of fat. They are also easier to accumulate in the body vs. the water soluble vitamins. Vitamin E and vitamin A are both useful antioxidants. Vitamin A also plays an important role in eye sight.

• Good sources of vitamin A are broccoli, carrots and most fruits or vegetables that are orange or yellow in color.
• Good vitamin E sources are asparagus, avocado and eggs.

Lastly, we will discuss Vitamin K (also known as phylloquinone). This vitamin is interesting because it helps for wound clotting and coagulation. Any scab you may get is a result of vitamin K at work! It is rare to be deficient in this nutrient, unless there is significant damage to your intestine.

• Good sources of vitamin K are leafy green vegetables.

When a child is on a restricted diet due to allergies, ensuring they are getting adequate amounts of each nutrient can be tricky. This vitamin series was developed to help families understand these nutrients and find ways to ensure your little one is getting the amounts they need to thrive. If your little one is on a very restricted diet, it may help to look for nutritionally complete amino acid-based formulas, like Neocate Infant or Neocate Junior, that will ensure these vitamins (along with minerals and macronutrients) are being taken in adequate amounts.

Do you often find it hard to ensure your little one is getting all the vitamins he/she needs? What have you done to help this?

Christine

Our post today is a guest blog entry from Lynda Mitchell, founder and president of Kids With Food Allergies, a national non-profit food allergy support group.  We’d like to thank her for guest blogging for us.

In her book, AfterShock, social psychologist Jessie Gruman, PhD, the president of the Center for Advancing Health, writes about what to do when the doctor gives you – or someone you love – a devastating diagnosis. Although she may not have had a food allergy diagnosis on her mind when she wrote it, much of what she spells out in her book would generally apply to how we, as parents, feel when we find out one of our children has been diagnosed with food allergy.  Let’s face it:  food allergy rocks our world – it not only changes our whole family’s lifestyle and greatly impacts our quality of life, it also requires meticulous management to keep our children safe and reaction-free.  Knowing that our children could have an allergic reaction and change from the picture of health one minute to life-threatening anaphylaxis the next adds much stress to our lives as well.

National nonprofit organization Kids With Food Allergies has a very active online community for families, and many members join to learn about food allergies and to connect with other parents for day-to-day support when they are dealing with a new diagnosis.   From the outset, we’ve seen parents asking the same questions and searching for the same answers to learn the basics immediately after diagnosis to understand what they are dealing with and learn how to keep their children safe.

With that in mind, and knowing that many Web-savvy families search the Internet looking for information about food allergy when their children are diagnosed, we decided to create a getting started guide for families – a free e-book, From Confusion to Confidence, that doesn’t answer every possible question, but rather focuses on the essential things you would need to know – those “mundane details” Dr. Gruman references – if your child is just diagnosed with a food allergy.  This free guide includes a 42-page compilation of articles, checklists and resources on topics ranging from understanding food allergy, diagnosis and treatment to day-to-day management of nutrition, cooking, shopping and living with food allergies.

Please take a look; download it and spread the word that it’s now available for families and can be a ready resource if they face a new diagnosis.

- Lynda

When you or your child has food allergies, looking at food labels and ingredients is essential.  Have you ever looked at an ingredient list of one of your favorite foods and been unsure about some of those “big” words, like cyanobalamin or pyridoxine?  What about the nutrient chart, when you see pantotenic acid or niacin listed, ever wondered what those really were?  Surprisingly to some, these are all B vitamins.  There are actually a total of 8 B vitamins in all which many refer to as the vitamin B complex.  The vitamin B complex includes:

• Thiamine (B1)

• Riboflavin (B2)

• Niacin (B3)

• Pantothenic Acid (B5)

• Pyridoxine (B6)

• Biotin (B7)

• Folic Acid (B9)

• Cyanobalamin (B12)

As a whole, these 8 vitamins provide overall good health including, the maintenance of healthy skin, hair and eyes.   Each B vitamin is also important individually.  

• Niacin (B3) is not only important for healthy skin, it also plays a role in the health of our nervous and digestive systems. 
• Pyridoxine (B6) is needed in the production of red blood cells which carry oxygen throughout our bodies
• Thiamine (B1) helps breakdown carbohydrates into simple sugars called glucose which gives us energy. 
• Some of the B vitamins like Folic Acid (B9) and Cyanobalamin (B12) also work together to make DNA which is important for all of our cells.  Another interesting fact about Cyanobalamin (B12) is that it is stored in our livers, typically enough is stored to sustain a person for several years!

All of the B vitamins are water soluble and will disperse throughout the body.  Most B vitamins should be replenished often since any excess is excreted in the urine.  The B vitamins can be found in several different foods such as whole grain cereals, rice, meats, fish, fruits like bananas, potatoes, milk and leafy green vegetables.

Now when you read those ingredient list and nutrient charts you can be armed with a little more knowledge and comfort knowing that these are vitamins and not any hidden allergens you or your little ones may not be able to tolerate.  Do you ever wonder about any other “big” words on food labels?  Let us know, we’d love to tell you about them!

- Sarah

With help from State Representative Todd Schlekeway, a group of families in South Dakota have introduced a new bill that would require insurance companies to cover amino acid-based formulas like Neocate.

Keloland Television in Sioux Falls, South Dakota recently did a story on the bill and shared the story of the Kurtz Family whose two children, Annie and Quincy, both have milk protein allergies. Annie relies on Neocate for the nutrition she needs to survive, and her mother April is eager for the bill to pass so that it can bring some much needed economic relief to her family.

Hopefully South Dakota will pass the bill requiring reimbursement of amino acid-based formulas and join other states like Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Texas, which have passed similar legislation.

If you are interested in introducing reimbursement legislation in your state, please visit the Children’s MAGIC website and download the “Guidebook to Enacting Legislation,” which can help you get started.

- Sarah