A special thank you goes out The Buffalo News and Reporter, Charity Vogel, for their (her) continued support and providing us with the ability to reach the entire community.

We are grateful for the great variety of information captured by the survey and excited to convey them to you below:  

• 133 respondents completed the survey as of April 30^th, 2010. The allergies ranked in this order: 

• 76%        Peanuts
• 65%        Tree Nuts
• 47%        Egg
• 37%        Milk
• 15%        Shellfish
• 14%        Soy
• 12%        Wheat
• 8%          Fish

• A large proportion of the families are dealing with multiple food allergies, presenting serious nutritional concerns.

• According to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, “food allergies are on the rise. The incidence of food allergy is highest in young children – one in 17 among those under age 3.”  The ages, of the respondents or minors suffering from Food Allergies according to this survey, range from 15 months old to 36 years with:
  • 3%          Under 2 years of age
  • 26%        Between 2 and 3 years of age
  • 18%        Between 4 and 5 years of age
  • 34%        Between 6 and 9 years of age
  • 16%        Between 10 and 15 years of age
  • 2%          Between 16 and 21 years of age
  • 2%          Greater than 22 years of age

• The great majority of food allergic patients suffer from environmental and pet allergies

• Food allergies presented in similar ways to many families;
  • Eczema
  • Hives
  • Swelling
  • Diarrhea
  • Itching
  • Rashes
  • Vomiting

• In babies under one year of age, many families experienced additional symptoms:
  • Oozing eyes
  • Puss
  • Low weight gain
  • Colic
  • Spit up more similar to vomit
  • Blood in stool
  • Labored breathing

• An overwhelming and upsetting 34% of respondents have suffered anaphylaxis, 14% greater than once, with one respondent greater than 10 times!
  • Most often exposure to milk caused the anaphylactic reaction, with peanuts causing the second greatest amount of anaphylactic reactions in the sample
  • Further concerns have arisen as to the permanent, long term effects on the body

• On a more positive note the majority of siblings do not tend to suffer from food allergies. Of those that do, milk and peanuts are the most prevalent.

• Regarding outgrowing allergies, further research needs to be conducted. However, it seems the chance of outgrowing at least one food allergy increases if a child suffers from a number of food allergies

• On the topic of physicians;
  • Most parents reported receiving limited or no support from their allergist. Most of the concern arises from the allergist’s ability to “hand them a few sheets of paper, script for blood work and an Epi Pen and sent on my way.” Through this survey process we hope to correct this issue.
  • Pediatricians seem to lack the ability to spot the warning signs of food allergies: eczema, vomiting, hives, failure to thrive, etc. They are supportive to the families, but lack knowledge of food allergies.

• The Day Care/Pre School question has expanded to include school, based upon the overwhelming outpouring of information presented in the responses.
  • The majority of parents are concerned for their child’s safety. They also commented, schools lack the proper training to manage the allergies to the parents’ comfort level.
  • Many parents have chosen to send their children to peanut free daycares/pre-schools and are extremely concerned for Kindergarten and beyond.

• Public awareness needs significant improvement, 85% of respondents agree and 93% feel NYS and Erie County are not providing the proper support.

• If services were made available to Food Allergy Families, 93% are interested and 79% would like someone to provide assistance in their home.

• The major concerns expressed by Food Allergy Families:

1. School
2. Safety
3. Ostracism/Normal Life
4. Education/Awareness/Understanding
5. Proper Nutrition
6. Restaurants
7. Food Labeling/Safe Products
8. Definitive Answers
9. Cross-Contamination

We gathered a great deal of information from this survey. We hope you will continue to help us! Many further questions have arisen from the results!

Enjoy FA Awareness Week!

Thank you to everyone who supported us through posters, emails, articles, word of mouth, and to those of you who completed the survey!

Best wishes,

Chris Popek

Food Allergy Support Services

http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/resourcesnew.php

Please follow the link below to M. Carolyn Black’s article “Caution: Relatives Ahead”

http://www.allergicliving.com/features.asp?copy_id=33

WNY Food Allergy Connection allergy@roadrunner.com

There are also sub-support groups in the north and south towns of WNY. For further information please email either the WNY chapter or www.CleanOutthePantry.org

Sugar and flour are relatively cheap, start over. Buy a new bag. Buy a new jelly, preferably squeeze jelly because it cancels any chance of it happening again.  Clean all work surfaces & underneath the cutting board with hot soapy water. Maybe give those baking pans a run through the dishwasher. Look in the baking pantry, what do you see? Chocolate chips – read the label (all chocolate), bisquick – read the label, bags of nuts – throw them away, raisins – read the label (call the manufactuer), oats – read the label, brown sugar – start over, cake mix – read the label, pudding/jello mix – read the label, frosting – read the label very closely. Continue on to oils and vinegars, check for peanut oil & check any “exotic” oils/vinegars for cross manufacturing processes. You’d be surprised!

Refrigerated cookie mixes are cross contaminated with peanuts, but some of the breads are not.  All bakery items are cross contaminated UNLESS they are pre-packaged and labeled as such. For example, white sandwich bread, whole grain sandwich bread, hot dog buns.

Several different flours exist for those with wheat allergies, such as rice, spelt…..

Moving beyond baking products, the snack cupboard has many obstacles. Pretzels seem harmless enough but almost all are cross contaminated with peanuts (start your search at Rold Gold or Wegmans Brand), chips- read the labels, cookies – lots of obstacles here, snack cakes – out, raisins/craisins – NEVER yogurt covered, crackers – read the labels..and to be on the safe side always call Pepperidge Farms before buying their different products. They choose not to label. However, goldfish crackers have been touted as peanut safe, all flavors BUT cinnamon. Those are cross contaminated. Kraft makes many snacks and they typically label or the 800# will say if a label doesn’t exist it means there are no allergens. Somewhat counterintuitive, but better than no rule at all.