Food Allergy News and Research

Below we have a collection of food allergy news articles and research studies, including the latest food allergy treatments, that may be of interest to you.  You can search through them by date, category, or key words.

Date	Category	Title	Source	Summary
12/01/2018	Epinephrine	Despite promise by FDA boss of lower cost, new generic EpiPen isn’t any cheaper		A new generic epinephrine from Teva that approved by the FDA in August 2018 was supposed to add competition to the market and lower prices for epinephrine autoinjectors. Unfortunately that didn't happen. It is priced at $300 - same price as the Mylan generic EpiPen, making EpiPens and similar devices expensive for some families to afford. See Epinephrine Autoinjector Table to compare different types of self-injectible epinephrine that are currently available in the US.
11/28/2018	Advice	Five Tips to Make Traveling With a Food Allergy Easier		A food allergy specialist discusses tips when travelling with food allergies. Includes advice such as carrying a food allergy card in multiple languages, ordering foods at restaurants, carrying safe foods with you, staying at a place where you can prepare your own meals, and remembering to carry (legally) your allergy medications.
11/27/2018	Therapy	Experimental treatment helps 2 out of 3 peanut allergy sufferers, study finds		Results from peanut oral immunotherapy study shows that 2/3 of children were able to eat about 2 peanuts without any allergic symptoms. However, the study author cautions that this is not a cure.
11/19/2018	Therapy	New peanut allergy drug could herald a ‘sea change’ in treating food allergies, but is not a cure
11/19/2018	Therapy	Peanut Allergy Remedy Offers Both Hope and Risk
11/18/2018	Therapy	New Peanut Allergy Drug Shows 'Lifesaving' Potential
11/18/2018	Newsworthy	Save the Germs		Not all germs are bad. Some help with digestion, regulate our immune system. Diversity of microbes are necessary to keep our body in a healthy balance, but this diversity in our gut has been decreasing dramatically which may have contributed to rise of many diseases such as food allergies, diabetes, autism or inflammatory bowel disease. So scientists are proposing a way to collect and save these beneficial bacteria which one day may hold the answers to treating these diseases.
11/09/2018	Newsworthy	American Airlines will allow fliers with nut allergies to board early to wipe down their seating area
09/25/2018	Social/Emotional	It’s bad enough to have a food allergy. But then you have to deal with the skepticism.
07/11/2018	Newsworthy	Southwest Airlines' decision to stop serving peanuts prompts outcry from peanut industry leaders
04/16/2018	Epinephrine	FDA Approves Generic EpiPen That May Be Cheaper
04/09/2018	Newsworthy	Life-Threatening Allergic Reactions Rising in Children		A new report studying allergy diagnoses and emergency room visits found a rise in allergy diagnoses and emergency room visits for anaphylaxis over a 7 year period from 2010-2016. ER visits more than doubled during this period from 1.4 visits per 10,000 children to 3.5 visits.
02/15/2018	Social/Emotional	In Allergy Bullying, Food Can Hurt
08/04/2017	Good to Know	Can You Develop Food Allergies at Any Age?		Have you wondered is it possible to develop a food allergy at any age? Can a new food allergy develop even as an adult. A new study indicates that more than half of American adults with a food allergy developed their allergy after they turned 18 years of age.
01/05/2017	Advice	Feed Your Kids Peanuts, Early and Often, New Guidelines Urge		Do you want to know what you can do to decrease the chances your child will develop a peanut allergy? Guidelines from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases recommend introducing peanut products early in life. The article discusses these guidelines and which infants may be high-risk and evaluation by a doctor is recommended before giving peanuts.
12/05/2018	Advice	Got bloating? Don’t diagnose your own food allergy or sensitivity. Take these steps instead.		Think you may have a food allergy but not sure? What is the difference between a food allergy and food intolerance. Discussed are some steps you can take to help find out whether the symptoms you have are due to a food allergy or a food sensitivity.
12/03/2018	Newsworthy	Why the world is becoming more allergic to food		Why are food allergies increasing around the world? No one know for sure, but some possible reasons why we are witnessing a rise in food allergies include hygiene hypothesis, parasites, vitamin D, or early exposure to foods.
11/28/2018	Newsworthy	EpiPens May Lose Potency Within Hours When Stored in Heated Car		Ever wondered "Is it okay to keep my EpiPen in my car?" In this study EpiPens were left inside a car during summer for 12 hours with temperatures reaching 143.6 degrees Farenheit. With this single heat exposure, epinephrine concentration decreased by upto 14 percent. And important to note that the appearance of the solution in the EpiPens did not show any significant color changes.
11/22/2018	Tidbits	Parents who clean pacifiers in their own mouths may reduce kids' allergy risk		Parents that suck their babies pacifiers may help lower risk of developing allergies. This study looked at 128 mother-baby pairs - 9% mothers reported sucking on pacifiers to clean them. IgE levels, a potential marker for allergies, were lower for these babies at 10 months of age.
06/05/2018	Social/Emotional	Parents, Schools Step Up Efforts To Combat Food-Allergy Bullying		Bullying around food allergies is common, upto 1/3 of kids with food allergies have been bullied at least once. Familes and school can help by raising food allergy awareness.
12/06/2018	Advice	Food Allergy and Drinking: How to Socialize Without Brewing Up Trouble		For adults living with food allergies, socializing and drinking can present some additional risks. Here are strategies for staying safe while going to parties and consuming alcohol. There is also information about potential allergens in different forms of alcohol.
05/28/2017	Social/Emotional	Here’s how to help your allergic child deal with food bullying		Some tips from experts on how to help your child with bullying due to food allergies.
08/31/2018	Epinephrine	Novel Epinephrine Nasal Spray for Anaphylaxis Gets Fast Tracked by FDA	Monthly Prescribing Reference	A pharmaceutical company is looking to develop intranasal epinephrine for treatment of allergies. A clinical study showed nasal epinephrine had rapid absorption with "similar bioavailability" to an injection of 0.3 mg EpiPen.
10/27/2018	Newsworthy	2 at Takeout Restaurant in U.K. Are Convicted of Manslaughter in Nut Allergy Death		The owner and employee were foud guilty of manslaughter for the death of a 15 year old girl who experienced an anapylactic reaction after eating takeout food contaminated with peanuts from an Indian restaurant in England. They were found to be grossly negligent with no safeguards in place to protect customers with food allergies.
04/03/2018	Newsworthy	Babies given antacids, antibiotics may have higher risk for allergies, asthma		A new study shows that babies given acid reflux mediations or antibiotics had increased risk of developing allergies. Acid medications used such as ranitidine for infants was associated with 2-fold increase risk of food alleriges. Antibiotics was linked to increasing the risk of asthma by 2-fold. Although the study doesn't prove these medications cause the allergy, there is a strong link which may be due to a possible change in the normal microbiome of infants.
12/08/2018	Advice	Top 15 tips for dining out with food allergies		A study surveyed 39 people with food allergies looking at what behaviors were helpful in preventing food allergic reactions when eating out at restaurants. 15 Tips are listed - here are the top three: 1) Speaking to your waiter as soon as you arrive, 2) Ordering dishes with simple ingredients, 3) Double checking your order before eating.
12/07/2018	Therapy	Wheat oral immunotherapy helps young patients with wheat allergy		Results from wheat oral immunotherapy show that more than half the kids were able to eat 4.4 grams of wheat protein after 1 year of treament. (Note: an average slice of bread contains ~2-3 grams of protein)
11/16/2018	Newsworthy	Study 7.6% of children have food allergies		A new study indicates that 7.6% of children in the US have a food allergy, or about 5.6 million children. 42 percent had a history of severe allergic reactions, but only 2 out 5 kids had a prescription for an epinephrine autoinjector.
12/14/2018	Newsworthy	How often pregnant women follow food avoidance strategy to prevent allergy in offspring?		A study looked at the diet of almost 5000 pregnant women to see if their diet affected the development of allergies in their children. About 3 percent of women avoided foods in their diet to try to prevent allergies in their babies. However, these offspring were TWICE as likely to have food related issues at 4 months age. Overall, they did not have any signficant difference in development of food allergies.
12/18/2018	Newsworthy	Food allergies linked to increased disease activity in multiple sclerosis	Science Daily	Researches studied over a thousand patients with multiple sclerosis to look for potential associations with disease flares. They noted that patients with food allergies had 27X times higher rate of MS flares compared to patients without food allergies. One possible cause is that food allergies might increase autoimmune inflammation; another possible explanation is the alteration of gut bacteria or microbiome leading to increased inflammation.
12/17/2018	Advice	How Do You Figure Out if a Rash is Actually a Sign of Food Allergy?		Can a food allergy worsening my eczema, triggering a flare? This article by a food allergy specialist reports that although people with atopic dermatitis have a higher chance of developing food alleriges, these food allergies typically cause immediate allergic symptoms such as hives or wheezing, instead of trigger flares of eczema.
12/16/2018	Newsworthy	6-Year-Old Writes Letter To Santa Asking About Food Allergies		Cute story of a 6 year old writing a letter to Santa asking if he has food allergies.
10/20/2018	Educational	Allergies: the scourge of modern life?		The term "allergy" was first coined in 1905 but since then allergies have skyrocketed. This article explores the history of allergies and several theories explaining why food allergies are on the rise over the past few decades.
01/08/2019	Newsworthy	Millions of People Wrongly Believe They Have Food Allergies		A new food allergy study shows that 1 in 9 adults do actually have a food allergy, however almost 1 in 5 adults report having one. So more report having allergies than actually have one. Some of the difference can be due to misreporting of food intolerances as an allergy. Most common allergies are shellfish, milk, peanuts, tree nuts and fin fish.
01/18/2019	Research	Gut Bacteria Protects Against Food Allergies		Bacteria (gut microbiome) taken from a healthy infant may have the potential to prevent food allergies from developing. A study had transplanted bacteria from babies with milk allergie and babies without allergies into mice. Those that received bacteria from healthy infants were protected from milk allergies, whereas those taken from milk-allergic infants were not.
01/28/2019	Newsworthy	Which Allergens Are in Your Food? You Can’t Always Tell From the Labels		Sometimes allergens are not clearly listed on labels. The article points out that sesame which is one of the most common allergens does not have to specify when a food contains sesame. It alos talks about the ambiguity with trace amounts of foods.