Talking Allergies

My 4 year old son went to a party where Sunny D was being served; all of the other food available he had eaten previously but he's never had Sunny D before as I feel it's crap. Anyway, within 12 hours or so, he became covered and I mean COVERED with itchy hives! I felt so horribly bad for him!

Anyway, I went to their website and obtained their ingredient list and found that there was one preservative, Hexametaphosphate, that I wasn't familair with and upon further investigation, is in packaged products we don't ever buy (like Sunny D). I blamed it on that preservative. Is this fair to say?

If he comes in contact with this preservative again, will the results be the same? Worse? Better?

What is your son allergic to? Is there any chance there was some cross contamination of any other food at the party?

Caroline

_________________
son anaphylactic to peanuts

He has been tested for food allergies, skin only so that isn't accurate enough for me, and milk came back as "slightly allergic". He suffered with bad eczema as a baby but it's since disappeared soon after he started using the potty (go figure) and we now and then are finding he gets rashes from things here and there.

He's also reacting to something in some of the other pre-package drinks he's getting from friends houses. Last time he reacted, it was to Capri-Sun where he got a prickly red looking rash around his mouth. So he isn't allowed to drink these things anymore.

I don't know of any other food allergies and the hives was a first for him. He's had the cake he ate there, before at another function but not the Sunny D and that is all the food/drinks that were served that evening. The dinner we had before leaving was spagetti and he's had that many times. We always make it homemade and the ingredients are always the same.

I'm extremely concerned about if he were to accidentally consume whatever it was that caused his extreme hives. Luckily, my best friend is an ER nurse and checked him out for me. She was concerned that they were going down his throat and swelling but he seemed to be OK. They lasted 24 hours!

How is your son with corn? If he eats corn and popcorn without a problem, I wouldn't worry about corn allergy. But if he has issues with corn, there is corn starch in SunnyD. Plus a lot of ingredients in manufactured food are corn-derived.

He's fine with corn and that is interesting that corn starch is in that stuff! The only thing I didn't recognize and felt he'd never had before was the preservative Hexametaphosphate. It's normally found in processed cereals and bottled cheese dips and we rarely eat those things.

I'm just worried about if he were to come in contact with it again, would the results be worse?

Do you serve him stuff like that often? I often get hives if I have something that is out of the ordinary, as 100% of my diet is completely whole foods based without preservatives. Even if I have, for example, a couple of Skittles or a sip of Snapple, then I get hives. I'm not allergic to either of those, though.

No, our children rarely get junk food like that. He had never before had Sunny D before that night so that is why I am blaming it. We also try to eat mostly a whole foods diet.

I'd maybe assume that then (although really, I have no idea), just from personal experience. His body was probably not used to the 'junk' (for lack of a better term!)

With allergic reactions, no one can say for sure if the next time it will be worse or better or about the same.

And laurie, that's really interesting that you react to food additives/highly processed foods like that.

Hi

After reading your post I have to wonder is it -

1 the preservative, Hexametaphosphate
2i fruit allergy(s) (two milds at same the same time get really weird/stronger)
ii cross contamination on line lines
4 Is there something like a pesticide on the fruits that the companies buy

I know it really sucks when your kid get sick from an unknown. You just want to find it and make them safe. I hope that you have found answer or a solution to this.

good luck

laladiable

_________________
Food- Citrus, Grapes, Peanuts, Tree Nuts, Dairy, Potato, Pork, Apple, Pears, Peaches, Melons, Strawberries, Cranberries, Maple Syrup, Honey, Artificially Carbonated & Sports drinks.
Perfume, Cologne, Dust & Dust Mites, Fur & Dander, Cold & Nature

I'm glad to find someone else that is allergic to this drink. I got hives all over when I drank it and had to quickly take antihistamines. Although my wife said it would be caused by the Sunny delight, I was sceptical. In the true spirit of research, I took another drink of it a few days later.....yes, within minutes exactly the same effect of hives as before. It's all very well to say avoid drinking Sunny Delight, but I want to know what component is to blame. I was blaming the metabisulphite preservative.

Could it be...fish?
http://www.canadianhalalfoods.com/hidde ... ents.shtml

_________________
Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

Very interesting to imagine fish being associated with juice. I actually have read fish oil as an ingredient in another brand of juice which displays that it has Omega 3. That brand was Oasis.
I recall reading Sunflower oil as an ingredient in Sunny D the last time I checked it in the store. That was a couple of years ago. The list I found online showed canola oil not sunflower oil.

Susan - our intrepid Googler.

That's quite interesting re fish. Another thought: it turns out with some of the vaccine reactions that certain people react to gelatins.
See this article 1/2 way down: http://www.allergicliving.com/features.asp?copy_id=251

_________________
Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

i am with the preservativies and colourings, many are now banned in the uk, and we have avoided them, because there have been times when my food allergic child and my youngest non food allergic child have suddenly become hivey.

many colourings cause ezcema, asthma and hives, so best avoid if possible.