An 11-year-old boy becomes the fourth young person to die of food anaphylaxis in the past 2 months.

Job: Actress on TV’s Modern Family Has child allergic to: peanuts, nuts, insect stings Allergic Living’s Gwen Smith: Julie, how did you first become aware of your child’s food allergies? Julie Bowen: I was at work on Boston Legal and my husband was at home. He sent me a text saying, ‘I think we have [...]

A large study suggests there are strategies that might reduce the odds of having a peanut- or nut-allergic reaction aboard an airplane.

A new, multi-center study shows significant improvement in allergen tolerance following a long course of under-the-tongue allergy drops.

As the growing ranks of the food-allergic know all too well, the only treatment for food allergies is strict avoidance of your allergens. But researchers are toiling in labs around the globe to develop therapies with the goal of desensitizing the allergic. New research out of Australia holds great promise. A study team announced in [...]

Allergic Living magazine is closely following scientific investigations of whether it’s possible to identify a “safe level” of peanut in manufactured foods. Editor Gwen Smith wrote a feature article on this controversial topic in the Winter 11-12 issue of the magazine. Following are some key points from her interview with lead investigators Dr. Steve Taylor [...]

“Mom, everyone is going. I really want to go,” my daughter pleaded with me one spring afternoon. The event? A one-week Girl Scout-sponsored day camp – or as I referred to it, “Girl Scout Nirvana.” For many kids, mine included, the prospect of summer camp is the very axis on which the Girl Scout year [...]

Update (March 29): The parents of the 6-year-old respond to this story. See “Comments” section below. On March 9, parents of children enrolled at Edgewater Public School near Daytona Beach, Florida, called the media and staged a protest, angry that an allergy-management plan implemented by the school board to keep a 6-year-old peanut-allergic girl safe [...]

Allergen Where It Hides Alternate Names Peanuts chocolate/candy bars-barbecue sauces Asian-style dipping sauces (particularly Szechuan) curry sauces egg rolls, spring rolls trail mixes Ice cream (peanut butter flavor or “Reese’s” ice cream) Certain body-care products and makeups use peanut derivatives or peanut oil dog food or biscuits non food: bird seed, bird feeder, ant traps [...]

My daughter Geneva is now 15, but back when she was a peanut-allergic kid in her prime trick-or-treat years, Halloween presented a tricky challenge. How were we to wrestle her hard-earned nutty goodies away without a pitched battle? Somehow, our heartfelt “it’s for your own good” speech was always lost on her, and tears would [...]