That is exactly what a new device developed by a team of researchers and engineers at UCLA led by Professor Aydogan Ozcan, appears to be capable of doing. Dubbed the iTube, it works by harnessing the power of a smartphone to test food for peanut allergens in about 20 minutes. It weighs less than one-tenth of a pound and can fit in a pocket.

“People will be able to quantify the amount of allergen and have the ability to upload their results to their personal site or to a public server,” Ozcan, an associate professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering, told NBC News.

Here’s how it works: first the iTube is attached to an Android smartphone. Then a small amount of a food, like a cookie, is ground up and put in an attached mini-test tube with hot water and a special solvent. After letting the mixture sit for a few minutes, other liquids are added that will react to the presence of the allergen. A second, empty tube has an LED light shine through it as well as the tube containing the sample.

The cell phone’s camera then takes a picture of the mixture and light through special lenses built into the iTube itself. An accompanying application analyzes the photo and displays how much of the allergen was detected. It’s highly accurate, able to test down to one part per million (ppm) of peanut.

While peanut allergen was used to develop the prototype, Ozcan is confident his team will be able to adapt for other allergens and gluten. He expects the device could become available within two years.

Ozcan and his team have developed other devices, which also make use of the power and widespread availability of mobile devices, including a microscope and a blood-count analyzer.

“Our research shows that high levels of dichlorophenol-containing pesticides can possibly weaken food tolerance in some people, causing food allergy,” the study’s lead author Dr. Elina Jerschow, an allergist and assistant professor at New York’s Albert Einstein School of Medicine, said in a press release.

“This chemical is commonly found in pesticides used by farmers and consumer insect and weed control products, as well as tap water.”

The study, published in the December 2012 edition of Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology), analyzed data from the 2005-06 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Of 10,348 patients, 2,548 had tested positive for dichlorophenols in their urine, and 2,211 of those people were included in Jerschow’s study. A significant relationship was found with the presence of the chemical: 1,016 of those with high levels of dichlorophenols had environmental allergies, while 411 of the patients had food allergies.

While the findings might sound like an argument to use bottled water to prevent potentially serious food allergies, Jerschow says that “other dichlorophenol sources, such as pesticide-treated fruits and vegetables, may play a greater role in causing food allergy.”

Noting the significant rise in both food allergies and environmental pollutants in the past decade, Jerschow said: “The results of our study suggest these two trends might be linked, and that increased use of pesticides and other chemicals is associated with a higher prevalence of food allergies.”

Missing out on great restaurant evenings with friends? Learn how you, too, can indulge.

Step 1: Before You Go

Know your condition: Do your homework: learn, in detail, what you can’t eat, where an offending protein hides, the multiple names for it, and names for it in key languages. If you have shellfish allergy, the French bistro menu may refer to fruits de mer. Hint: they aren’t fruits. Nuoc mam pha? Sounds lovely but it’s Vietnamese fish sauce. Sodium caseinate? Dairy. Durum? That’s wheat. (Look up specific allergies and celiac disease at Allergicliving.com, and see left panel links for “hidden peanut”, “hidden milk”, “hidden gluten”, etc.)

Carry your meds: Allergists recommend epinephrine as the first-line medication for a food allergy reaction. Having an auto-injector with you is especially important whenever you plan to eat, since anaphylaxis can come on swiftly after consuming the wrong food. Consider that restaurant reaction horror stories almost always occur because the patron did not have an auto-injector on hand. Also have a food allergy action plan on you: in your purse, backpack or as a pdf on your smartphone. (See American and Canadian plans.)

Restaurant card: I recommend bringing a chef or food allergy card. These explain your allergies and the types of foods they are found in. Top chefs have told me that these can mean the difference between clarity and confusion in the kitchen. Find them at Selectwisely.com or Allergytranslation.com.

The right attitude: Let’s get you psychologically prepared to dine out. Your mental equipment includes: an approachable demeanor, a genuine smile and lots of pleases and thank yous. These will get you far at a restaurant. Conversely, anger or threatening language or behavior will get you nowhere fast. You will be pleasantly surprised by what a positive frame of mind will bring.

Next Page: Step 2 – Deciding where to dine

Something was causing him to experience unnerving allergic reactions, sometimes in the middle of the night. His skin felt “on fire” with welts that would swell and itch – but what was behind the outbreaks? And how to stop them?

After consulting a physician and keeping a log of every morsel he ate for months, Grisham uncovered the bizarre cause of his misery: red meat (beef, pork and other mammals’ meat). What he didn’t know at the time was that the allergy is linked to tick bites. And Virginia, where Grisham’s family lives on a farm, is tick central.

In fact, University of Virginia researchers were among the first to document the tick-meat allergy connection, in part because renowned UVA allergist Dr. Thomas Platts-Mills himself developed meat allergy after being bitten by ticks.

What makes the allergy particularly confounding to track is that it causes delayed reactions, often over four hours after eating meat.

Despite his busy schedule of writing, speaking, and supporting good causes, Grisham manages to keep his allergy in check both at home (in Virginia and Mississippi) and on the road.

He has three new books being released in 2012, including a baseball novel, Calico Joe, and the third installment in his young adult series, featuring “kid lawyer” Theodore Boone (who happens to have asthma), but the author still found time to sit down in his Charlottesville, Virginia office with Allergic Living contributor Mary Esselman.

With good humor and frequent reference to his meticulous log notes, Grisham discussed his bedeviling allergy.

On the beginning of his odd allergy.

“The first [reaction] was in June of 2002. I noticed some rashes on my ankles. I remember thinking, ‘This is weird, both ankles.’” [He didn’t think it was a big deal.]

“Then in July 2002, I went with my wife to an annual garden club dinner, and she had prepared these huge beef tenderloins that I had grilled. And while I was cooking, I was shaving some off to sample. By the time we got to the garden club party, my ears were really, really itching. I got my wife and said, ‘Renee, something’s going on.’

There was a doctor there, and he gave me an antihistamine. My skin was on fire.

So we got in the car, and I was so desperate I stripped down, took off all my clothes but my boxer shorts, and I had all the air [conditioning vents] blowing on me, and you could just see the welts. The skin was just welting up. It almost made me nauseated just watching my skin.”

[He wrote down in the food log his doctor advised him to keep that it was beef. The penny began to drop.] “It was always beef.”

Next Page: ‘I woke up and thought I was going to die’

Q. What is a food allergy?
A. A food allergy occurs when a person with an inherited tendency to allergy fails to develop a normal tolerance to usually harmless proteins, such as those found in peanut or milk. Instead, that person’s immune system identifies this food as an allergen and begins to create antibodies – called Immunoglobulin E or IgE – to guard against it. These antibodies will attach themselves to cells in the body called mast cells.

When the person again eats the food he or she has developed an allergy to, the proteins from it, in turn, become attached to the IgE antibodies. This causes the mast cells to rupture, releasing histamine and other powerful chemicals into the body. It is these chemicals that cause the symptoms of allergy.

Q. What are the symptoms of food allergy?
A. Not everyone will get all symptoms, and the signs and severity of reactions will vary from person to person. They can also differ from one attack to the next in the same person. That said, symptoms include:

• Tingling in the mouth
• Swelling of the tongue and throat / feeling of throat tightness
• Itchy skin, hives or skin redness
• Abdominal cramps
• Vomiting or diarrhea
• Breathing difficulty, wheezing
• Faintness due to a sudden drop in blood pressure
• In a severe anaphylactic attack, the allergic person can lose consciousness and is at risk of death.

Q. What are the most common triggers of food allergies?
A. The vast majority of food allergy reactions are caused by proteins in these 9 foods:

• peanuts
• tree nuts (e.g. almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts)
• milk
• egg
• shellfish (shrimp, crab, lobster, mussels, clams)
• fish
• soy
• wheat
• sesame

Health Canada also lists the food additive sulphites as one of the most common causes of allergy, though it is not a food protein as such.

Q. What is anaphylaxis?
A. This is a serious allergic reaction to a food protein, stinging insect or medication. Such a reaction has many symptoms (from the “symptoms of food allergy” list above) and engages one or more of the body’s systems: the gastrointestinal tract, the respiratory tract, the skin and the cardiovascular system. Anaphylaxis usually involves difficulty breathing and can lead to a loss of consciousness or even death.

Such a severe reaction must always be treated as a medical emergency. It is essential that those with food allergies be aware of the risk of anaphylaxis and carry an epinephrine auto-injector (known by the brands EpiPen or Twinject). Leading allergists recommend that epinephrine be used early if a person known to be at risk of anaphylaxis appears to be reacting to a food; do not wait to see if symptoms worsen. [For more on epinephrine and anaphylaxis, go to Allergic Living Podcasts.]

“Because of the unpredictability of reactions, early symptoms should never be ignored, especially if the person has suffered an anaphylactic reaction in past,” notes the Consensus Statement issued in December 2005 by the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (“Anaphylaxis in Schools & Other Settings”).

Q. Are some people at greater risk of anaphylaxis?
A. While no one who has food allergies should be complacent, most allergists suggest that the risk of anaphylaxis increases when: the allergic person is asthmatic, has eczema or has experienced previous serious reactions. Allergists say that, in particular, those with asthma should be considered in a higher risk category.

Q. Why does asthma increase the risk in an anaphylactic reaction?
A. Asthmatics are prone to severe breathing difficulties in an allergic reaction, which is why the CSACI Consensus Statement expresses concern about asthmatics who are also at risk of anaphylaxis, and stresses that they MUST keep their asthma controlled. The CSACI says: “In cases where an anaphylactic reaction is suspected, but there is uncertainty whether or not the person is experiencing an asthma attack, epinephrine should be used first (e.g. before a puffer). Ephinephrine can be used to treat life-threatening asthma attacks as well as anaphylactic reactions.” The CSACI advises carrying epinephrine auto-injectors as well as puffers/inhalers.

Q. What is asthma?
A. Asthma is a chronic inflammatory lung disorder. If asthma is not controlled and the asthmatic’s hyper-responsive airways are exposed to an inhaled allergen (such as cat dander) or an irritant (such as cigarette smoke), the lining of the airways become inflamed, and produce of an excess of mucous. In addition, the muscles surrounding the bronchial tubes will constrict. The inflammation, mucous and constriction significantly reduce the size of the passageway of the airways, making it difficult to breathe. The asthmatic will cough, feel tightness in the chest and perhaps wheeze.

Q. How is asthma related to allergies?
A. About 80 per cent of asthma is triggered by allergens such as dust mites, animal dander, cockroach waste, pollen or mould – so asthma is largely an allergic disease.

As with other allergies, the asthmatic’s immune system identifies a protein (for instance grass pollen) as an allergen and creates antibodies to guard against it. These antibodies attach themselves to mast cells in the body. When the person again inhales the microscopic pollen, it becomes attached to the antibodies. This will cause the mast cells to rupture, releasing histamine, which inflames the bronchial tubes and lungs in an immune system over-response.

Some people have non-allergic asthma, which is triggered by irritants including cigarette smoke, air pollution and chemical fumes. Irritants, however, may also spark attacks in those with allergic asthma that is not well controlled.

Q. What are the symptoms of asthma?
A. Not everyone will get all symptoms, and not every asthmatic will wheeze. The signs include:

• Chronic coughing
• Shortness of breath
• Wheezing
• Tightness in the chest
• Shallow, rapid breathing
• Breathing difficulty at night, causing sleep disturbance
• In a severe attack, the person will find breathing very difficult; he may have trouble speaking or concentrating; and he may have a bluish tinge to the lips and face.

Q. How is asthma controlled?
A. There is no cure for asthma, but with proper treatment, symptoms can be controlled and the asthmatic can have a normal lifestyle. Treatment will be based upon the severity of the asthma, as well as other health considerations particular to a patient.

The symptoms of mild to moderate asthma, where symptoms are only present occasionally and rarely interfere in daily life, can often be eliminated by reducing exposure to triggers, and if only very occasional, by using quick-relief bronchodilators (e.g.: Ventolin, Atrovent, Berotec), as needed.

Any cases which have ongoing symptoms, even if mild, may require daily use of a controller medication, such as inhaled corticosteroids (Flovent, Pulmicort QVar), leukotriene receptor antagonists (Singulair, Accolate), long-acting bronchodilators (Oxeze, Serevent) or a combination product (Advair, Symbicort). Again, eliminating exposure to allergens and irritants is an element of controlling persistent asthma. Allergy immunotherapy (or “allergy shots”) are the only option to permanently change an individual’s allergic asthma response.

Q. What about insect allergies, which insects can cause reactions?
A. The major offenders are those in the hymenoptera family: bees, wasps, hornets, yellow jackets and fire ants (which are native to the southeastern United States).

Q. What should I do if I’m allergic and I get stung?
A. Remove the stinger by scraping it out with a fingernail or a credit card. Trying to squeeze it out could release more venom. If you’ve been prescribed an epinephrine auto-injector (EpiPen or Twinject), use it and either have someone take you to the hospital or call 911 for an ambulance.

Q. What is venom immunotherapy?
A. These are allergy shots to desensitize a venom-allergic person to their stinging insect allergens. Ask your allergist if you could be a candidate. While insect allergy is difficult to live with, the good news is that this form of immunotherapy has been effective in up to 98 per cent of those treated.

Q. Besides food proteins and stinging insects, what else causes anaphylaxis?
A. Drugs, such as pencillin, and natural rubber latex can also cause life-threatening allergic reactions. Some allergic people will also experience anaphylaxis if they exercise vigorously after eating a certain food. Exercise can also cause asthma attacks in some asthmatics.

Reviewing (food allergy basics) Dr. Susan Waserman, president of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology; (asthma basics) Dr. Mark Greenwald, vice president of the Asthma Society of Canada. Additional sources: Anaphylaxis in Schools & Other Settings (2005, published by the CSACI), American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology (www.aaaai.org).

Earlier prevalence estimates that have found the range of food allergies as high as 8 percent in children under age 3, but more in the range of 4 percent for older children.

***

Gwen Smith, Allergic Living magazine’s editor, spoke to Dr. Ruchi Gupta, the lead author of the study, about her findings and what they mean. Her study was published  in the journal Pediatrics and funded by the Food Allergy Initiative.

Gwen Smith: In your study you found that 8 percent of children under 18 have food allergies. We’re used to hearing a figure much lower than that for kids over the age of 3 or 4. What do you make of your larger statistic?

Dr. Gupta: It is a large figure, about two kids in every classroom. In practical terms it makes sense, though. I think most parents when they look around their child’s classroom are seeing one or two kids with food allergies, maybe more. I don’t know if it’s a big surprise – since I see it in my own daughter’s classroom and this is true for everyone [parents of patients] that I talk to. I think it’s just getting a good solid number that represents what’s going on in the United States, and that’s what we did.

If you’re wondering if this represents an increase, I don’t really think there’s been a big [recent] one. I know there have been a variety of numbers, there was a report in JACI [Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology] of between 1 and 10 percent, so there is a huge range that has been talked about.

GS: But it gets confusing since, while your number is higher, a government agency not long before pegged the prevalence among older children at just under 4 percent.

[Dr. Gupta explains that methodologies are different and that may partly explain. For instance, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came out with the estimate of 3.9 percent of children having a food allergy, they were using a wide-ranging questionnaire on all sorts of diseases, with one food allergy question along the lines of: “does your child have a food allergy or digestive disorder in the past year?”]

Dr. Gupta continues: The CDC report was good, every time we get something we have a little bit more information.

GS: So what was the difference with your study?

Dr. Gupta: What we tried to do was a large, nationally representative study asking only about food allergy. That’s why I feel so confident in what we have produced because it was only for food allergy and we did it on a national level. The number that we have of 8 percent is a very solid number. We took into account families that stated that they may have an allergy to a food and we looked at their reactions. We ended up taking out about 2 1/2 percent of the kids who we thought may actually have intolerances and not allergies. We didn’t just go off a ‘yes, my child has a food allergy’ answer or if we had our results would have been closer to 10½ percent.

We thoroughly reviewed the results with an expert panel to make sure that what we were looking at, based on the history the parents gave us, was true food allergy. The study is carefully done and it looks at all food allergy, not a specific food allergy, so I have a lot of confidence in the numbers.

We did ask, not only ‘does your child have a food allergy,’ but also which allergy and, for each food they reported, we went into: who diagnosed it, how was it diagnosed, what reactions have they [the children] had from ingesting the food in the past. It was a detailed survey that a parent had to fill out.

Next: Serious reactions seen in 39% of allergic kids

We’ve got to hand it to the people at Kitchen Basics: they “get” people with allergies and celiac disease. We love that their selection of stocks such as chicken, beef and vegetable are not only healthy and low-sodium – but now allergy-friendly and gluten-free, too.

“We strive to reduce the risk of allergen reactions by specifying that our ingredients must not contain milk, eggs, peanuts, glutens, soy, tree nuts, fish, shellfish or corn,” says the company. (The one exception is the clearly marked seafood stock.)

We also love their “fresh” humor. The thorough allergen statement on the label, notes: “we do not autolyze, hydrolyze, add or produce MSG.”

If you’re always on-the-go, you don’t have time to nurse homemade stock on the stove. Getting help from a company who understands allergies and celiac disease, and who makes tasty, health-conscious stocks, gets two thumbs up.

Available in the U.S. and Canada, and through their online store. See www.kitchenbasics.net

Gluten-Free Options at Subway

Diners at Subway in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Tyler/Longview in Texas have gluten-free options as of January. The restaurant chain has decided to test out safe options for those with gluten sensitivities.

Gluten-free bread rolls and brownies will be individually wrapped. Employees will cut the rolls with individually wrapped knives which will be thrown out after one use. The same employee will make the entire sandwich in order to ensure that only one pair of hands touches the sandwich, thus reducing the risk of cross-contamination with gluten-containing products.

Employees have been trained on how to take precautions and to avoid gluten contamination with the meats, cheeses and vegetables.

Read more here.

Fairmont Hotels’ Lifestyle Cuisine Plus Menu

Dining out while away from home has gotten healthier and friendlier for those celiac disease and some other dietary needs – if you’re staying at a Fairmont Hotel, that is.

Fairmont’s newly announced menu, Lifestyle Cuisine Plus, was developed by chefs at the chain’s 64 hotels around the world under the supervision of Katya Baxter, a nutrition consultant. Chefs trained to deal with specialized diets will prepare the dishes on this menu.

The dishes are designed to cater to people living with celiac disease, diabetes, heart disease and those on macrobiotic, raw and vegan diets. The menus will change every season to reflect local food finds.

Although the menu does not cater specifically to those with food allergies, the attention to special dietary needs is a plus in our books. Furthermore, Fairmont Hotels does encourage those with food allergies or food sensitivities to speak to their hotel’s chef to come up with safe food choices during their stay.

Afterglow Cosmetics

Kudos to Afterglow Cosmetics: a natural line of mineral makeup that is gluten and soy free.

Afterglow is also pleased to disclose all ingredients, as well as the fact that they do not use any of the skin irritants commonly found in other cosmetics. These include parabens, phthalates, petro-chemicals and fragrance.

For a complete list of their products and to order, visit www.afterglowcosmetics.com

Allergies Attack Game

Wouldn’t it be nice to get back at your allergens sometimes? Well in this free app designed for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, you get to “attack back!”

The game starts off with a young boy going to sleep. In his dream state, you navigate through baseball games, grocery store aisles and more as you battle it out with everything from pet dander to peanuts.

Developed by a father and son with food allergies and asthma, this game is sure to be fun for both kids and adults. www.allergiesattack.com

Posted: January 12, 2011

By Gwen Smith and Dory Cerny
Allergic Living magazine

If you have a child with peanut allergies, other parents will say to you: “Nobody was allergic to peanut butter when I was a kid.” If a cat swishing through a room starts you wheezing, you’ll get asked: “How come so many people have asthma?” Both are reasonable questions, variants on the broader million-dollar one: “Why do so many people have allergies today?”

If you want an easy answer, allergy experts will simply say they don’t know. But what they mean is – they don’t know entirely. The fact is that scientists understand a lot more about allergic disease than they did a decade ago. There are still gaping holes in their knowledge, but as they continue to fill in the pieces to the puzzle, what they are finding is fascinating and often surprising. In the following investigation, Allergic Living examines what science knows so far about why allergies occur.

In the Beginning

When a baby is born, its immune system is a work in progress. “You’re born with a naïve, allergic-skewed immune system,” explains Dr. Michael Cyr, an allergist and immunologist at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. This is what scientists call the Th2 mode.

During the first days, weeks and months of life, as the baby comes into contact with various germs, bacteria, viruses and infection, the system is supposed to start learning to distinguish between what is harmful and what is benign.

Some allergists liken the emerging immune system to a toggle switch or a reset button: we’re all born in that Th2 mode and then that first bout of sniffles at eight weeks or the ear infection at four months begins to “switch” the immune system over from Th2 to Th1 mode or fighting bacterial infection mode.

But in the person with a genetic inclination to allergy, something misfires and the switchover doesn’t happen properly. Cyr, who’s a researcher with AllerGen (the Allergy, Genes and Environment Network), says that why this process happens easily for some people but not for others remains unclear, and may depend on a confluence of factors.

The young child who doesn’t get switched over is now atopic – predisposed to developing an allergic response to a trigger such as cat dander or ragweed pollen or peanuts. After breathing in or consuming one of those, the child’s immune system creates allergy antibodies – specifically Immunoglobulin E or IgE antibodies – to guard against offending trigger. The next time the immune system encounters it, the IgE will go on the defensive, setting off a cascade of allergic symptoms.

Though genetics are a large contributing factor to whether a person becomes allergic, scientists haven’t found one specific allergy gene. “It’s becoming clear that it’s not a gene, it’s a whole series of genes,” says Cyr. Something has changed to increase the number of us who are developing allergies, says Dr. Dennis Ownby, a professor of pediatrics and the head of allergy and immunology at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.

“What seems to have happened over the last three decades, at least in developed countries, is that genetic ability [to be allergic] has become more prominent,” he says.

Just how much have allergies and asthma grown? Figures from the World Allergy Organization reveal the global prevalence of asthma has increased by an astounding 50 per cent every decade for the past 40 years. In North America today, leading allergy organizations estimate that about three million Canadians and 20 million Americans have asthma.

In the past decade alone, the prevalence of food allergy, once an uncommon condition, has skyrocketed. The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network, the U.S. education group, estimates that about 12 million Americans – 4 per cent of the population – now contend with the disease. The Canadian rate of food allergy is estimated to be comparable. Peanut allergy alone has doubled in young American kids.

In our modern world, allergy has spread like wildfire. Scientists are certain that genes alone can’t be the whole reason why. “The genetic pool does not dramatically change over decades,” notes Cyr. “So it’s obvious there’s something else going on.” And that something appears to be our environment.

Getting to the Dirt

While references to asthma date back to ancient Chinese medical texts, the real story of our modern understanding of allergy begins in earnest in 1989. It was a heady year, with the fall of Berlin Wall and the beginning of the opening up of the former East bloc. A team of German scientists decided this presented a great opportunity to compare the prevalence of asthma in Leipzig (former East Germany) and Munich (former West Germany).

Here were two highly similar gene pools of people who had been living in very different societies and conditions. “At that stage, everyone, including us, believed that air pollution was causing asthma and allergies,” says Dr. Erika von Mutius, who was then a young pediatrician and team leader, and who today is a professor and head of the asthma and allergy department of Munich University’s Children’s Hospital.

When the findings began coming back showing that there was considerably more asthma in modern, Western, hygienic Munich than among the study group living in Leipzig with its billowing factory smokestacks, the researchers were incredulous.

“It was so opposite what we’d anticipated,” recalls von Mutius on the phone from Munich. “We didn’t believe it, so we thought it was a mistake in data entry and re-entered all the data.” But the data were right, and the results were published in 1992.

An estimated 2.5 percent of Americans – 7.5 million people – have at least one food allergy and young black children with asthma appear to be at the highest risk, according to findings from what is believed to be the largest food allergy study to date. The research was conducted by investigators at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

The findings, published in the October issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, are based on blood samples and interviews with more than 8,200 participants, ages 1 to older than 60, in whom investigators searched for the prevalence of four food allergies and for links between food allergies and asthma, eczema and hay fever.

Previous research has found slightly higher numbers of national food allergy prevalence, but the researchers say a true comparison between the new and the previous findings would not be meaningful because of different methodologies, different criteria and different population sizes.

Besides the sheer size of this new study, one of its strengths, the researchers say, was the use of blood levels of antibodies as an indicator of actual disease rather than theoretical risk, making it the first of its kind to use that standard in thousands of participants. Indeed, only people with levels high enough to suggest clinical disease were classified as allergic.

Overall, 2.5 percent of the people in the study had a blood test indicating a food allergy. The most common allergy was to peanuts, with 1.5 percent of people testing highly positive for peanut antibodies, the proteins made by the immune system in response to allergens.

These were followed by shrimp (1 percent), eggs (0.4 percent) and milk (0.2 percent). Many (1.3 percent) had more than one type of allergy. Overall, allergies were most common in children 5 years old or younger, with 4.2 percent of them testing highly positive for one, followed by those between ages 6 and 19 (3.8 percent).

“This study is comprehensive in its scope and is the first to use specific blood serum levels and look at food allergies across the whole life spectrum,” says study senior investigator Darryl Zeldin, M.D., acting clinical director at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).

In the study, children under the age of 5 were more than twice as likely as those older than 20 to have a food allergy and black people were three times as likely as white people to have one, while men were nearly 1.9 times more likely than women to be affected.

Black boys were more than four times as likely as white women over 20 to have a food allergy.

The findings also show that food allergies were more common in those with asthma. While the researchers did not study cause and effect between food allergies and asthma, having a food allergy appeared to compound the risk for asthma and vice versa.

Those with asthma had nearly four times the risk of having a food allergy than those without it. Overall, people with food allergies were nearly seven times more likely than those without them to have required ER treatment for their asthma in the 12 months leading up to the study.

“Our findings confirm a long-suspected interplay between food allergies and asthma, and that people with one of the conditions are at higher risk for the other,” says investigator Robert Wood, M.D., director of Allergy and Immunology at Hopkins Children’s.

Wood notes that many children experience an “allergic march,” developing a food allergy first and getting asthma and hay fever later.

While people with food allergies were somewhat more likely to be diagnosed with hay fever, the link between the two was not particularly strong, and they did not appear to have higher risk for eczema, the investigators found.

Andrew H. Liu, M.D., of National Jewish Health hospital and the University of Colorado, was the lead investigator on the study.

Motion M-546

Let’s join together, and ask the federal government to develop a strategic plan to decrease the risks for Canadians living with anaphylaxis, and to educate the public.

Write and visit your MP. Spread this message to your friends, families and support group members. Ask them to write and visit their MP. If we make a concerted effort to voice our concerns and needs, positive change that benefits individuals and families living with severe, life threatening allergies will result!

Media Release

Niagara Families and MP Dean Allison Raise Awareness for Anaphylaxis

June 7, 2010 – Niagara West – Glanbrook Member of Parliament Dean Allison gave notice for a motion in the House of Commons today:

“That in the opinion of the House, anaphylaxis is a serious concern for an increasing number of Canadians and the government should take the appropriate measures necessary to ensure these Canadians are able to maintain a high quality of life.”

Anaphylaxis is a medical condition describing people with severe, life-threatening allergies. Reactions are rapid in onset and may cause death without immediate treatment. Food is the most common cause of anaphylaxis, but insect stings, medicine, latex or exercise can cause reactions. In Canada, the most common food allergens are milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, shellfish, fish, sesame and wheat. Anaphylaxis has no cure, though important research and efforts to find a cure are underway. Avoidance is the required preventative measure.

The MP’s motion is welcomed by hundreds of family members of the local group Niagara Anaphylaxis Support and Knowledge (NASK). They seek to motivate support across Canada for the Niagara MP’s efforts to raise greater awareness on Parliament Hill and prompt responsible action with Government officials.

NASK President Cindy Paskey explains, “As more and more Canadian families face the challenges of raising a child with one or multiple severe allergies, a coordinated, thoughtful set of government initiatives will help to raise public understanding of anaphylaxis, and provide greater safety of its children and citizens. We ask government to take steps to help to reduce the risk of unnecessary and preventable anaphylactic attacks. Everyone benefits. Medical emergencies are avoided. Lives are saved.”

Ms. Paskey adds, “Of necessity, there is a great deal of personal responsibility when living with anaphylaxis. Avoiding your allergens is the only way to stay alive. With the support of MPs and government officials, we can raise greater public understanding, promote responsible safety measures, educate people on the signs of a reaction and how to help a person in need – similar to CPR education. This coordinated government approach will lead to reducing risk and to safer environments for those living with life-threatening allergies and to those providing care and services. Canadians and our governments have successfully tackled a wide range of health concerns that has made Canada a safer, healthier, happier place to live. Anaphylaxis deserves the same attention.”

The NASK group is very optimistic about the prospects of their awareness drive given recent attention in Ottawa on anaphylaxis. Just weeks ago, the House of Commons passed a unanimous motion to recognize May as Food Allergy Awareness Month. The Canadian Transportation Agency is about to make a ruling regarding airlines’ safety protocols respecting allergies. Also, Health Canada is reviewing new food labeling regulations that highlight the importance of listing ingredients and allergy information.

For more information, visit http://nask.ca/events.html and contact:

Cindy Paskey, NASK President — 905 934-0681 / nask.niagara@gmail.com
Mindi Ferkul, NASK — 905 938-9100 / mindif@cogeco.ca
Debbie Bruce, NASK — 905 828 1954 / debbiebruce-allergies@rogers.com
Don Tulloch, Legislative Assistant, M.P. Dean Allison — 613 995-2772 / allisd0@parl.gc.ca