Food allergies among children are gaining more attention, and so are parent-child-school initiatives to curb students' exposures to allergy-causing foods without outright bans on items such as peanut butter.
At Hilltop Elementary School in Wyoming, Liz Stratton's second-grade son goes home every day for lunch -- the only way to make sure he does not eat peanuts, milk or eggs, three foods that can cause severe allergic reactions. Teachers, bus drivers and cafeteria workers know what to do if the boy gets sick from food at school.
Peanuts biggest problem
According to FAN, an estimated 125 people die from from food allergies each year in the United States, although hard numbers do not exist, says Cincinnati allergist Dr. Bret Kettelhut, a national expert on food allergies in children.
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CHILDREN'S ALLERGIES
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About 90 percent of food allergies are caused by peanuts, milk, wheat, eggs, soy, almonds, pecans, walnuts, fish and shellfish. Some children outgrow allergies to foods, while some may remain allergic throughout adulthood. At local schools, peanuts cause about 50 percent of the problem.
Children are three times more likely than adults to have severe food allergies because their immune systems are not yet fully developed. Usually, a child won't have an allergic reaction the first time a food is eaten. Instead, the body's immune system will respond with antibodies that will be triggered to produce allergic reactions -- sneezing, swelling, rashes, etc. -- the next time that food is eaten.
Information: Call the Food Allergy Network at (800) 929-4040; or visit the Web site (http://www.foodallergy.org).
Locally, the Food Allergy Awareness, Support and Training group provides information and holds monthly meetings on food allergies. Write P.O. Box 565, Loveland, Ohio, 45140 or call 588-6863. |
Food-allergy deaths are not required to be reported to state or national authorities, so doctors think that statistics about actual deaths are low. The Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology is establishing a national registry to try to learn how many people have food allergies and how many die each year, Dr. Kettelhut said.
Peanuts are most likely to cause reactions, and symptoms from peanuts and tree nuts are more severe than most other food allergies.
Increasing numbers of schools have accomplished what the airlines recently have been ordered to do -- establish "peanut-free buffer zones" for passengers with allergies. Such a zone, according to the U.S. Transportation Department, means no peanuts to the passenger's row and the rows immediately in front and in back of it.
Typically, allergic passengers do not alert the airline ahead of time, said Delta spokesman E. Todd Clay. When a flight attendant is told of a passenger's peanut allergy, pretzels are offered to the passenger and to people in a few surrounding rows, he says.
Likewise, schools cannot act until they know there's a problem. "Unless students come to us and say, "I have a food allergy,' we don't know they're out there," said Michelle Simmerman, manager of culinary services at Miami, where food allergies are on the rise. About 50 of 9,000 dining-service students are on record as allergic to some food -- mostly peanuts, nuts, milk - dairy products, wheat, eggs and fish -- compared with about 10-15 allergic students nine years ago, Ms. Simmerman said.
No call for bans
Miami uses a newsletter, table tents, food-line notices and handbooks to alert students to the university's policies for accommodating food allergies, and it makes alternative foods available, such as soy milk for students allergic to cow's milk.
No local groups, however, have asked for or instituted a peanut ban.
"A ban violates people's rights, and you get into all sorts of issues," said Betty Rickards, nurse at Cincinnati Hills.
Mrs. Stratton, although protective of her son because of previous reactions, says bans can be counterproductive.
"Bans don't help the child learn how to deal with their own food allergies. They need to learn to manage their allergies so they can grow up and be able to live a full life," she said.
"The school is an excellent place for them to learn those strategies because there are back-up personnel who can help them deal with reactions as they arise."
Besides, students are allergic to more than peanuts, and peanut - nut products show up in a variety of foods not covered by a ban, Ms. Redmond says.
Some chips (e.g., Mike Sell's potato chips) are fried in peanut oil. Peanuts, peanut oil or peanut flour (used as a filler) can show up in baked goods, Asian dishes, desserts, candy bars, snacks, soups, chilis and sauces.
Most parents take the initiative to make sure that everyone who comes in contact with their allergic child -- bus drivers, cafeteria workers, school nurses -- knows proper first-aid in case a child accidentally eats a reactive food.
School personnel know where to find a copy of the child's medical records and how to find and use an Epi-Pen, an emergency adrenaline shot kit used to curb an allergic reaction.
"There's a balance you have to hit between avoidance (of certain foods) and emergency treatment," said Mrs. Stratton, who asked that her 7-year-old son's name not be used for this story. "But no matter how hard you try, you're never able to hit 100 percent avoidance, so you really have to be prepared for the incident."
Informing parents
Most schools start by alerting all parents in a particular classroom that a student has a food allergy. Parents are urged to send snacks and treats free of that particular food.
"No one's ever resented the fact that a child has a problem," Ms. Rickards said. "Most parents have said, "That's great. Thanks for telling me. We would feel awful if we did anything to make another child sick.' "
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