Click the image below to download the poster! Don’t forget to share with friends, schools, workplaces and family members. Education is the best way to spread awareness.

Enter below for a chance to win!

The Prizes:

2 copies of: Allergy-Free and Easy Cooking, the outstanding new cookbook from AL’s Food Editor Cybele Pascal.
2 copies of: The Food Allergy Experience, by allergist and researcher Dr. Ruchi Gupta and food allergy advocate Denise Bunning.
2 one-year subscriptions: to everyone’s favorite – Allergic Living magazine (or a one-year renewal for current subscribers).

To enter, simply fill in the form below.

Don’t forget to share with your friends or on your blog!

The initiative is being called “The Summer of TAG” – a nod to the Montreal native’s racing nickname. Various events are planned:
• Tagliani will be speaking at schools in Toronto and Montreal in early May about his own experience with food allergies, as well as the importance of vigilance for anyone living at risk for anaphylaxis.
• You can also take part in a contest to create a design for Tagliani’s racing helmet, which he will wear during the Toronto Indy, and a special one-on-one race to benefit Anaphylaxis Canada.

The veteran driver is no stranger to anaphylaxis himself:

“As someone with a severe food allergy to peanuts and tree nuts, I can tell you that an anaphylactic reaction is far more frightening than driving a race car at 400 kilometres (250 miles) per hour,” Tagliani said in a press release, “That’s why I always carry my EpiPen with me, wherever I go.”

Click here to read the full press release

Check out Allergic Living’s roundup of celiac disease events taking place in May 2013:

This travelling celiac expo stops in Philly on May 18. Admission is $10, but children under 10 enter for free. Meet medical experts and watch a cooking demonstration on the Rudi’s Gluten Free Bakery Stage, while sampling gluten-free products from dozens of local and national companies.

Click here for more information and to register

Each Monday this May, the Canadian Celiac Association is partnering with Turtle Jack’s Muskoka Grill for their Right to Safe Food fundraiser. After downloading a coupon from the CCA’s website, participants can bring it to a participating Turtle Jack’s location and have 25 percent of their bill donated to the CCA’s Right to Safe Food program.
Click here for more information

So Delicious Dairy Free will donate $1 to NFCA for every Facebook like they receive during Celiac Awareness Month, up to $5,000. So get liking!

So Delicious Facebook page

Laura Hahn, winner of NBC’s “Next Local TV Chef”, will reveal her secrets to gluten-free cooking. In two hours, participants will learn how to make an entire Vietnamese meal that’s both delicious and gluten-free.

Click here for more information and to purchase tickets

Anyone with an EpiPen prescription can get a maximum of $100 off their insurance co-pay fee when purchasing an EpiPen or EpiPen Jr. 2-Pak.

To take advantage of the offer, simply request the card from your doctor’s office or by calling 1-800-395-3376. See more details at the website epipen.com. Bring the co-pay card to your pharmacist along with your EpiPen prescription.

The co-pay card may be used on up to three 2-Paks per prescription, or may be applied to an unlimited number of prescriptions. The promotion ends at the end of 2013.

The co-pay card is available to most insured patients, with the exception of those insured by federal or state health-care plans. The offer is not available outside the United States.

On April 3, Dr. Mehmet Oz hosted a segment on his TV show called “How to Survive the Allergy Epidemic”. In keeping with many news reports released this spring, Dr. Oz declared: “This year, you’re going to feel even more miserable than ever before.”

New York allergist and Allergic Living contributor Dr. Clifford Bassett was invited to help explain to viewers why this may be. He said that climate change factors, such as warm seasons starting earlier and ending later, are to blame. He also noted that tree pollen and grass pollen seasons can overlap resulting in a “pollen bomb” that can cause misery for allergy sufferers.

Dr. Oz did an excellent job explaining how certain weather patterns can cause what allergy specialists and botanists now call ‘the priming effect’ – where pollen levels rise, fall and rise again in late winter and early spring. When it’s unseasonably warm, plants begin producing pollen early. When the temperature drops again, they stop, and then begin again once the warmer weather returns. In pollen-sensitive individuals, this can cause worsened allergy symptoms that are tougher to control because their immune system has been ‘primed’ for pollen allergens.

The topic of conversation then moved to treatment. Most medications for spring allergies work by blocking histamine receptors, so the histamine in one’s body has nowhere to bind to and cause symptoms. These treatments are effective for most people, but they treat the symptoms but not the underlying allergic disease. Upon each re-exposure, the symptoms will have to be blocked again.

This is why doctors often recommend immunotherapy, or allergy shots, in which a small amount of the allergen (i.e. pollen) is injected into a sensitized individual on multiple occasions over a long period of time. The goal is to allow the patient to build tolerance to the allergen and eventually no longer be sensitized to it.

The trouble with this traditional type of immunotherapy, which Dr. Bassett noted has been available for almost 100 years, is just that – the trouble: injections are required several times before each allergy season for several years, resulting in many, many hours in the allergist’s office.

Fortunately, Dr. Bassett informed Dr. Oz’s audience that sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT), which is a type of immunotherapy that uses under-the-tongue tablets or drops instead of needles, is gaining ground. It is far less invasive: once an allergist determines the proper dosage, a patient can actually conduct this immunotherapy by themselves, at home.

While not yet approved by the FDA, several clinical trials have demonstrated that this type of treatment can be effective, and it has been available in Europe for years. One brand, Oralair, was recently approved for prescription use in Canada.

See the full episode of The Dr. Oz Show here

See also:
Peanut Drops Hold Treatment Promise
Milk OIT Not Lasting
Dr. Oz on Nut Proteins in Olive Oils

You’ve banished gardening from your life, uprooted your plants and spend your Spring hiding indoors. Little do you know, there are hundreds of low-allergy options for your garden. What’s more, many of these are far more beautiful than their pollen-pouring counterparts, because they have to stand out in order to attract bees and other pollinating insects. Here is Allergic Living‘s list of potentials for your low-allergy garden:

Photo: JENNIFER BYRON/Getty

Flowering Plants

• Lathyrus odoratus – Sweet pea
• Catharanthus roseus – Periwinkle
• Digitalis – Foxglove
• Impatiens – Impatiens
• Myosotis – Forget-me-nots
• Nierembergia – Cup flower
• Petunia – Petunia
• Viola – Johnny jump up, pansy, violet
• Brodiaea – Dlephant’s ears
• Crocus – Spring-flowering crocus
• Cyclamen – Cyclamen
• Galanthus – Snowdrops
• Gladiolus – Gladiolus
• Hyacinth – Hyacinth (numerous varieties)
• Gentiana – Gentian
• Geranium – True geranium, cranesbill
• Hemerocallis – Day lily
• Peony – Peony
• Polemonium – Jacob’s ladder
• Rhododendron – Azalea, rhododendron
• Fuchsia – Fuchsia
• Dianthus – Carnation, pinks
• Papaver – Poppy
• Begonia – Fibrous or tuberous begonia
• Rosa – Rose (avoid high-scent varieties)
• Phlox – Phlox
• Iris – Iris
• Erythrocoma triflora – Prairie smoke
• Kniphofia – Red Hot Poker
• Clematis – Clematis
• Tulipa gesneriana – Tulip (bulbs may irritate sensitive skin)
• Penstemon – Beardtongue
• Antirrhinum – Snapdragon
• Asclepias tuberosa – Butterfly weed
• Hibiscus – hibiscus
• Narcissus – Daffodil
• Bulbine frutescens – bulbine

Shurbs/Bushes/Herbs

• Coleus blumei – Coleus
• Hosta – Hosta, plantain lily
• Physalis – Chinese lantern
• Sempervivum – Hens and chicks
• Hydrangea grandiflora – Big leaf hydrangea
• Viburnum – Viburnum shrubs, highbush cranberry, nannyberry
• Heuchera – Coral bells (many varieties)
• Teucrium crispum – Wood sage
• Physocarpus opulifolius – Dart’s gold, ninebark
• Bergenia – Elephant’s ears
• Kolkwitzia amabilis – Beauty bush
• Aronia melanocarpa – Black chokeberry
• Rodgersia pinnata – Featherleaf rodgersia
• Helianthemum – Sunrose, rock rose
• Gaura – Gaura, beeblossom
• Vaccinium corymbosum – Blueberry bush
• Berberis vulgaris – Barberry bush
• Daphne – Daphne
• Nandina domestica – Nandina
• Salvia greggii – Autumn sage
• Salvia clevelandii – Cleaveland sage, blue sage

Trees

• Stick to female trees, which may drop berries or seeds but don’t produce pollen
• Persimmon  – persimmon tree
• Amelanchier lamarkii – juneberry tree

Vines/Climbing Plants

•  Thunbergia alata – Black-eyed Susan vine

Sources: Allergy-Free Gardening, by Thomas Leo Ogren, Creating a Low-Allergen Garden, by Lucy Huntington, Peter Prakke, Horticulturalist, Olivia Kirk, Landscape & Garden Designer for KKE Architects and Melissa Gable, University of California Davis arboretum.

See Also: Plants to Avoid

The following plants can cause problems for people with allergies and should be avoided. In general, it’s a good idea to avoid any plant which releases its pollen into the air, rather than relying on insects for pollination. For sensitive individuals, it is also a good idea to avoid anything that gives off a strong scent, such as certain rose varieties.

The Plants to Avoid: Botanical and Common Names

Flowering Plants

• Amaranthus caudatus – love lies bleeding, tassel flower
• Chrysanthemum – chrysanthemum, daisy (numerous varieties)
• Thalictrum – buttercup
• Aster – aster
• Daucus carota – Queen Anne’s lace, wild carrot
• Doronicum – leopard’s bane
• Alyssum – alyssum
• Leontopodium alpinium – edelweiss
• Ligustrum – privet hedge
• Tanacetum – tansy, painted daisy
• Cryptomeria japonica – Japanese cedar
• Celosia – cockscomb
• Echinacea purpurea – purple coneflower
• Syringa – lilac
• Matthiola – stocks
• Lavendula – lavender

Shurbs/Bushes/Herbs

• Artemesia – wormwood, tarragon
• Ligustrum – privet hedge
• Hydrangea paniculata & quercifolia – pee-gee and oak leaf hydrangea

Trees

• Cryptomeria japonica – Japanese cedar

Grasses

• Carex – sedge

Vines and Climbing Plants

• Hedera – ivy

Now that you’ve rooted out all the allergy-offenders from your garden, it’s time to check out our list of sneeze-free options.

Sources: Allergy-Free Gardening, by Thomas Leo Ogren, Creating a Low-Allergen Garden, by Lucy Huntington and Peter Prakke, Horticulturalist.

See Also: Low-Allergy Plants

After Michelle B. was diagnosed with celiac disease in early 2009, she made sure to tuck all nine of her extracted teeth into her handbag when she was referred to the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University in New York. She wondered if the dental problems with which she had been plagued since her early twenties – repeated cavities, root canals, infections and extractions – could possibly have something to do with celiac disease.

“I kept all my teeth because I just knew something wasn’t right,” explains the 37-year-old resident of Maplewood, New Jersey.

The clinic examined them and found they all had abnormalities associated with celiac disease, like enamel defects, structural defects and calcium deficiency.

“I knew something bigger was wrong than just my teeth, but I was still shocked by the link.”

Celiac disease and teeth? Really? If that’s news to you, you’re not alone – it’s quite possible that your doctor, dentist and hygienist have never heard of that link either. Among celiac disease’s curious mix of symptoms, oral health problems have only recently been shown to be one of them.

The first American study that looked at a connection between celiac disease, dental enamel defects and canker sores was published in The Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology in 2009. Meantime, the very first clinical guidelines for dentists that outlined celiac disease and dental problems was published in 2011, in the Journal of the Canadian Dental Association.

It’s hard to pin down the number of celiac patients affected by oral health issues – the studies have been generally been small – but the 2009 study found that dental enamel defects were found in 87 percent of the children with diagnosed celiac disease compared to 33 percent of non-celiac kids, and that 42 percent of celiac patients, both adults and kids, had frequent bouts of canker sores, versus 22 percent of the non-celiac patients.

Why is it happening?

Just why celiac disease can do a number on your teeth and mouth is, like so much else associated with the frustrating condition, far from clear. “We don’t know what the exact mechanism is, but there are two theories,” says Dr. Peter Green, a gastroenterologist and director of the Celiac Disease Center, who co-authored the 2009 study.

First, because celiac disease means that the body has trouble absorbing key nutrients, including vitamin D and calcium, that could translate to poor tooth enamel formation in childhood.

Next: Antibody Theory