A food allergy occurs when a person’s immune system identifies proteins in a food as allergenic and begins to produce antibodies – called Immunoglobulin E or IgE – to guard against that food (e.g. shellfish or peanuts). These antibodies attach themselves to mast cells in the body, and when the person again eats the allergenic [...]

Mustard has taken its place among the top foods of concern for allergies in Canada. Health Canada announced in September 2009 that it is adding the seed on its list of “priority allergens”, which also includes peanuts, tree nuts, sesame seeds, milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, soy, wheat and sulphites. Health Canada also developed criteria with [...]

You’ve just come home from the doctor’s office. You have a white prescription slip for an EpiPen and a newly diagnosed sesame allergy for your child. Life is about to change, but rest assured, food allergies can be managed. It helps if you to adopt a cautious, not fearful, approach and develop a plan. Allergy [...]

Sesame seed allergy is not one of the most common allergies – but it is on the rise and Health Canada has put it on its “priority allergens” list, implicating it as a culprit in many food allergy reactions. A recent Canadian population survey estimates that .23 per cent of Canadian children have a “probable” [...]

The humour writer who scoffed at food allergies as “a yuppie invention” has learned the hard way just how real they are. But let’s remind you first of the scorn Joel Stein heaped on parents of allergic children in a column in the Los Angeles Time. “Your kid doesn’t have an allergy to nuts. Your [...]

Do you sometimes feel sick to your stomach not long after eating? Have you noticed a pattern in the types of food you eat when this occurs? Perhaps you have experienced unexplained skin rashes (known as hives) or vomiting or diarrhea? Does your child refuse to eat a certain food, or complain that it makes [...]

AVOID, AVOID, avoid. That’s how Ann Jeannette Glauber had been treating her 4½-year-old son’s allergies to eggs, milk, peanuts, nuts and shellfish. But at a party a few years ago, Theo grabbed and ate a handful of Goldfish crackers (which contain dairy) before she could stop him. “I kind of freaked out,” she admits, since [...]

Everyone affected by food allergies wonders: will there ever be a cure? And if not, at least a treatment? While the only way to “treat” food allergies at the moment is careful avoidance of the food you’re allergic to, there is big news not far away on the hunt for treatments. In the labs and [...]

Dr. Antony Ham Pong knew that sesame allergies were on the rise. It was the mid-1990s, and at the time, no other countries in the world had included the tiny seed on their lists of “priority allergens” – that is, the foods most likely to cause significant problems. But the patients coming through Ham Pong’s [...]

Peanut allergies are severe, often affecting children, and are increasing in prevalence. It’s no wonder researchers around the globe are looking at new, inventive ideas for how “cure” them, or at the very least, how to allow those with peanut allergies to tolerate at least a small amount of this legume’s protein. Allergic Living looks [...]