Food Allergy Has High Tech Help

People dealing with food allergies can get a little help from the web. Check out these high tech resources:

Allergic To It is a site for people to share with one another. Anyone can go on the site and enter their favorite food allergy safe foods. The entire community can then vote on foods, giving products a "Confidence Counter", which translates into how confident you can be in that product.
My Food Facts is an iPhone app that allows you to scan the bar code of any food item to find out if you may be allergic to it. Sure beats squinting at labels in a poorly lit grocery store!

Eating out with food allergies can be fraught with confusion and fear. Check out these two sites before you make a reservation:
Allerdine is a food allergy restaurant guide giving information about the food allergy friendliness of various restaurants. Set up a free profile to share your experiences and to receive e-mail offers from restaurants and their partners.
Allergyeats has over 600,000 restaurants in its database. Based on peer rating and feedback, AllergyEats help food allergic diners make informed choices about where to eat out. The site is currently offering a gift card contest. Check out their Facebook page to learn how you can win.

Amazon.com can be a Great Resource for Gluten Free and Allergy Friendly Foods

For Celiac Awareness month, Amazon is offering up to 30% off many gluten free products through the end of May. Check out this selection of cereal, snacks, bars and baking mixes.

I've been able to save money over the years purchasing other allergy safe foods for our family from Amazon. From Enjoy Life chocolate chips to Soynut Butter to gluten free Mary's Gone Crackers, buying in bulk through Amazon is easier on the wallet. Many of these products are available for free shipping too. I also like the customer reviews on the site which help me decide if I should buy a particular food.

So, check out Amazon to see if some of your favorites are available and make a few comments on products if you get a chance because that helps all of us!

Latest Food Allergy Research Studies Underway

There are many studies going on in the world of food allergy. If you are interested in participating in a study, or just want to learn more about what is happening in the research, check out these links:

Baked Milk Study for kids in New York
Peanut Allergy Study for peanut allergic adults at centers across the country
Curing Milk Allergy Through Oral Immunotherapy
Herbal Formula to Cure Food Allergy Study
Food Allergy Study is seeking 500 more families to help answer important questions about food allergy

I am glad to see so many food allergy studies. As we learn more, we get closer to a treatment and cure!

Peanut Allergy Food Challenge Postponed

We arrived at the allergist's office emotionally and physically ready for my 10 year old's peanut challenge last week. Unfortunately the office wasn't ready for us. There were boxes all around and we were told it was moving day- no doctors or appointments that day.

Apparently the office sent us an e-mail informing us about the need to reschedule. It was sent to a very old e-mail address.

A phone call would have been nice...husband took a vacation day to attend, we scheduled this 2 months ago around the school schedule, anxiety all Easter week-end about the challenge...you get the picture.

So, we rescheduled for later this month, but I wanted to let you know what we decided to use for the challenge.

A few days before "the challenge that never happened", I took a chocolate mold and put in a layer of melted dairy and nut free chocolate. I topped that with a layer of soy nut butter and then added a top layer of the chocolate.

Totally yummy. My son enjoyed the treat and understood that this is what he would eat on Monday at the challenge, except that the soy nut butter would be peanut butter.

So, that's our plan for the peanut challenge in a few weeks.

I'll keep you posted!

Survey on Management of Food Allergy in Schools and Child Care Centers

Have you had a chance to participate in the "Attitudes and Opinions about the Management of Food Allergy in Educational Settings" survey?

Developed by the Kids With Food Allergies Foundation; the University of Michigan Medical School’s Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology; and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy & Immunology, the survey is anonymous and will give leaders in food allergy valuable insight into what we see in our schools.

It only takes a few minutes to complete and you can do it multiple times if you have several kids with food allergies.

Click here to take the survey.