S/O: Are food allergies more prevalent today?

[Blakes Mommy]

Yes, FAs are more prevalent and they don't know why exactly. Our pediatric allergist is the head of a Food Allergy Clinic at a top University and they are trying to figure out what's causing them. Theres a lot of thought that "cleanliness" of our surroundings has caused some of the problems, but again not much confirmation. Peanut allergies have significantly increased.

There is no significant proof one way or the other yet that delayed withholding is causing allergies. My 9 month old reacted to eggs at 3 months through my milk. He has tested positive. So in that case I didn't delay at all. DS has a severe peanut allergy and has never even had a peanut in his mouth. He reacted with full body hives after DH picked him up out of his high chair after eating PB toast. My husband nor I have food allergies, but we do have season allergies.

Just read your post after mine and this definitely blows my theory out of the water. Maybe the cleanliness thing is true. As a kid we never used hand sanitizer all the time or washed constantly because we may catch something! Of course we washed after playing outside before meals. I am just as guilty of this with the wet ones etc... Hey when I was a kid in school we were never taught to cough into our arm or anything like that!!

[Green_Tea]

Our pediatrician's theory is that food allergies are the result of a bored immune system that misinterprets harmless things as a threat. She thinks this is a result of overuse of antibiotics and antibacterials, and the huge increase in immunizations that children receive. She also thinks that genetically modified foods might be playing a role. I found her take on it fascinating, because she's not anti-vax and anti-antibiotic AT ALL, but is also willing to wait things out a bit. Many of the most common allergens of today (and those in which we have seen a huge uptick in allergies to) are largely genetically modified or dosed with antibiotics - wheat, soy, peanuts, eggs, milk, etc.

I have no food allergies. My grandmother developed an allergy to seafood as a senior citizen. My husband is allergic to all nuts, but not peanuts. DD1 is allergic to peanuts, and outgrew allergies to dairy, soy and eggs. She had an anaphylactic reaction to dairy at 8 months, and had to be transported to the ER via ambulance. There is nothing scarier than a baby that can't breathe, so yeah, I do get a little heated when people suggest that perhaps we are overreacting when it comes to restricting allergens. My own FIL got into a fight with me at dinner when I explained that my 1 year old DD couldn't have butter on her bread. FIL insisted that butter isn't dairy, so she'd be fine. It can be hard NOT to be defensive about your kid's allergies when so many people assume they understand but they really just don't.

ETA: Our ped recommends letting kids eat with dirty hands once in a while. This drives my FIL NUTS. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy his reaction!

[TxCat]

Our pediatrician's theory is that food allergies are the result of a bored immune system that misinterprets harmless things as a threat. She thinks this is a result of overuse of antibiotics and antibacterials, and the huge increase in immunizations that children receive. She also thinks that genetically modified foods might be playing a role. I found her take on it fascinating, because she's not anti-vax and anti-antibiotic AT ALL, but is also willing to wait things out a bit. Many of the most common allergens of today (and those in which we have seen a huge uptick in allergies to) are largely genetically modified or dosed with antibiotics - wheat, soy, peanuts, eggs, milk, etc.

When I was in my first year of medical school, one of our main professors of cell biology was a huge proponent of the cleanliness theory of allergy development. His lecture on it was memorable to every new class because he tied it in with describing how excited he was to come home one day and find his 2 year old and 3 year old outside playing with cat poop in the yard - his theory being that the more exposure his kids received to various types of "dirt", the better. I have to admit, his lectures made an impact on me. While I won't go as far as he did (no playing in the litterbox for DD!), I am fairly relaxed about DD playing in dirt, eating things that have fallen on the floor, etc. There's no guarantee that will help, but I'm hoping for the best.

And yes, FA's have increased, both statistically and anecdotally. I'm 35 and when I was growing up, I don't remember any food allergies in my classmates - and considering I routinely ate peanut butter and strawberry preserve sandwiches until middle school, I would have definitely remembered having those banned. And I had exposure to a fairly large sample size during that time as well - 11-12 different schools across 5 states in 6 years.

Some articles discussing the increased prevalence:

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/200...9/hlsa1229.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db10.htm

http://www.familypracticenews.com/ne...e53cf0932.html

[Simon]

We have fairly significant allergies in Ds3 and he's exposed to plenty of dirt and not a lot of hand sanitizer, etc. We also don't/didn't withhold allergenic foods but he reacted to dairy and probably soy in my breastmilk and had allergic hive reactions to skin contact with foods before he was even old enough to eat solids.

[Momit]

I have also read/heard that food allergies are much less common in other countries, and I'm wondering if that is well documented or just hearsay. Or due to less reporting in other countries.

We absolutely saw this when we lived overseas. DS attended a preschool there with about 75 kids, and not one allergy. Here, each class in his preschool has several signs up for the various food allergies in the class and the entire facility is nut free.

Our pediatrician there looked at me like I was insane when I asked if it was ok to introduce nuts and shellfish to DS at about 18 months old.

I also remember that my German friends talked about American tourists and their constant use of hand sanitizer. It is not uncommon there for public restrooms to have only cold water in the faucet - if you can even find a public restroom, that is.

[MSWR0319]

This article popped up today on one of the allergy feeds I get. I thought it was timely to this discussion. I don't really know the accuracy of the source, but thought it was interesting nonetheless.
http://www.naturalnews.com/039192_pe...allergies.html

[squimp]

There was a study of Amish farm children last summer that supported the hygiene theory, where kids on farms have lower allergy rates.

I know milk allergies or intolerances were common when I was a kid, my best friend had them. I do not recall other allergies though. I am am old mom too.

[sste]

I do think they are increasing and don't know why.

I think *part* of the increase is lots more testing and that the tests can be oversensitive, have false positives etc. We asked our pedi if we should have DS allergy tested preventively (he hadn't had any allergic rx or indicators or family history). He was adamant that in our case we should not -- he said all kind of things could light up positive on the test that might never give DS an issue or that he might outgrow. But once they are positive on the test of course a responsible parent has to make sure there is no exposure or limit it depending on the allergen.

[MSWR0319]

I do think they are increasing and don't know why.

I think *part* of the increase is lots more testing and that the tests can be oversensitive, have false positives etc. We asked our pedi if we should have DS allergy tested preventively (he hadn't had any allergic rx or indicators or family history). He was adamant that in our case we should not -- he said all kind of things could light up positive on the test that might never give DS an issue or that he might outgrow. But once they are positive on the test of course a responsible parent has to make sure there is no exposure or limit it depending on the allergen.

I think this is part of it also. DS's RAST test showed milk, wheat, peanut, and dog. Our allergist asked if he seemed to have any problems with milk and wheat and I said no. He lives on dairy! He said they were more than likely false positives then so not to worry about them unless something comes up. The numbers were classified as a level 2 or 3 I think, but still he has no reactions. If you don't have an allergy educated doctor reading the results, I can see how you easily could be told you have an "allergy" when you don't. Again, it's the thought that reaction trumps results.

[Green_Tea]

I do think they are increasing and don't know why.

I think *part* of the increase is lots more testing and that the tests can be oversensitive, have false positives etc. We asked our pedi if we should have DS allergy tested preventively (he hadn't had any allergic rx or indicators or family history). He was adamant that in our case we should not -- he said all kind of things could light up positive on the test that might never give DS an issue or that he might outgrow. But once they are positive on the test of course a responsible parent has to make sure there is no exposure or limit it depending on the allergen.

I totally agree. DD1 is allergic to peanuts, and we know because she's had an actually anaphylactic reaction to them. Previously she was also allergic to eggs, milk and soy - again, with reactions. In spite of that, we were cautioned by several doctors not to take blood and skin tests TOO seriously, or to over test or go looking for additional allergens. When I has skin tests done back in the late 90s, I tested as being allergic to almost 75 different allergens - most of which I have absolutely no problem tolerating. I always cringe a little when I hear of a parent avoiding something like eggs based on the results of blood or skin tests, but in the absence of a reaction when ingested. I think there's been an explosion in the number of people seeking the tests for their kids, and it's resulted in an inflated number of kids with "allergies" - and as a result, people kind of start rolling their eyes because, as people have pointed out in this thread and others - it seems like every kid is allergic to something. This creates an even MORE dangerous environment for kids at risk of having a life threatening reaction to an allergen.