Food can affect both children and adults alike in a surprising variety of ways.
Food allergy symptoms can include rashes to dark circles under the eyes to stomach pain or nausea - even
hyperactivity. The problems you are experiencing may be your body telling you that you are suffering from a
food allergy or intolerance.
Recognizing a food allergy can significantly change your health and life for
the better. Detection and avoidance of these specific foods will leave you
feeling healthy and ready to take on the world.
If you suspect your body is reacting to milk, peanuts or any other food, make an appointment with your
primary care physician to discuss the possibility. After all, food
allergies can be serious, if not life threatening to some.
Four out of every 100 Children Suffer From Allergies
The
National Center for Health Statistics has release new statistics on children
with food allergies. About 3 million children under the age of 18 were reported
to have either a food or digestive allergy in 2007. Unfortunately, from 1997 to
2007, food allergies have increased by 18% among children.
Also,
these children with food allergies are 2 to 4 times more likely to develop
related problems such as eczema, asthma or other food allergies, as opposed to
children with no food allergies. Bottom line? Four out of every one
hundred children suffer from a food allergy. Among these, 0-5 year olds have
the highest food allergy rate, evenly dispersed between boys and girls.
Genetically Modified Foods
Even if you don't have allergies, it is important to know
exactly what is going in to your body. But do we really know what
we are eating? Find out more about how your food is genetically modified,
and how to avoid genetically altered food. More on Genetically
Altered Foods
Peanut Warning
Whether your child is allergic to peanuts, or you are
allergic yourself - you take every precaution to avoid exposure to nuts.
But sometimes even the most careful find themselves face to face with an
allergen. Today we experienced just that. My daughter and I were
planting young tomato plants we had purchased from a hardware store.
Sitting in the garden digging in our own dirt seemed completely harmless.
That is, until I reached for one of the small plants and saw half of a peanut
shell just under the dirt in the pot.
Keep this in mind if you are starting your own garden.
If you are able, it is best to start your plants from seeds, using your own dirt
in clean containers. There is a risk of exposure to peanuts using
pre-potted plants purchased in hardware stores and garden centers. Better
safe than sorry!
Allergy Free Peanuts
It may be possible that our future will hold an
allergen-free peanut. At least that is the hope of North Carolina researchers,
who recently found a way to process what appears to be harmless peanuts. And for
the 3 million people alone in the United States who are allergic to peanuts,
this would come as a welcome surprise.
Legume testing has been underway at the North Carolina Agricultural and
Technical State University. Results show that one hundred percent of the
allergens in roasted whole peanuts were virtually eliminated. These "allergy
free peanuts" were given to peanut allergic individuals, whose blood tests
showed no sign of reaction to these nuts. Furthermore, the taste of these
allergen free peanuts is just as rich as the real ones.
Will this be the answer to peanut allergy sufferers everywhere? The jury is
still out. But there are high hopes that allergen-free peanuts will bring relief
to millions in the future.
