Q. My younger child is allergic to peanuts and our family doctor recently said he should be avoid chickpeas (which he hasn’t tried) as well. She says there’s a high risk of reaction in peanut-allergic kids. Is this true? Dr. Scott Sicherer: It is true that there is a “higher” risk of a chickpea allergy [...]

Q. I have a 5-year-old son who is allergic to dairy, egg, banana, peanuts and other tree nuts. At a recent party, I told him that he could not have a certain kind of cracker being served, as it would make him sick. He grabbed it anyway started to eat it. I made him spit [...]

Dr. Sicherer shares his insight.

Dr. Sicherer advises on when to prepare a child to administer an auto-injector in an emergency.

Q. I’m 32 and just had my first anaphylaxis experience to shrimp. It was scary: I was wheezing and could hardly breathe. How can a grown woman suddenly develop a food allergy? Dr. Scott Sicherer: You are not alone in developing shrimp allergy as an adult. In our U.S. prevalence studies and studies in Canada [...]

Q. I have long wondered: Is eczema directly linked to cow’s milk allergy? Dr. Sicherer: The allergic form of eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis, is related to other allergic illnesses including asthma, allergic rhinitis (hay fever) and food allergies. These illnesses are inherited and often occur together in the same person. Infants and children [...]