Wednesday, December 15, 2010
A lot of you may have seen these recent news stories about new food allergy guidelines from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. For those of you who didn't see this info or who want links, I've provided them below.
About a week and a half ago, the NIAID released new guidelines for diagnosing food allergies. These guidelines are intended to be especially helpful for parents whose children have been diagnosed with multiple food allergies and who may have very restricted diets.
Also, here's what the Wall Street Journal had to say about the new guidelines.
Personally, my family's life is not affected much by these new guidelines because my daughter has not only been diagnosed via blood and skin testing, she has also experienced more than one reaction to nuts and peanuts. We know the allergy is there and since one reaction was about a year ago, she's not a candidate for new tests at this time. In other words, her allergy is hanging on, at least for now.
However, the new guidelines are so encouraging to so many because up until now, not everyone was being diagnosed in the same way. This led to confusion, misdiagnosis and possibly unnecessary limited diets--which we also know means limited lifestyle. Also, food allergies can fluctuate and change over time. This is also addressed by the new guidelines.
As always, please get advice from a board-certified allergist or pediatrician before changing anything you are doing with regard to your child's allergies.