Food allergies in small children may be more serious than predicted.

Currently, the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network reports that roughly 8 percent of children in the country suffer from food allergies, equating to six million children in total. Now, a new study released by the Consortium of Food Allergy Research (CoFAR) has demonstrated that allergic reactions among children occur more often, and may be more violent, than previously believed, particularly in infants.

The data, which was drawn from an ongoing study that has spanned three years, closely monitored the reported allergic reactions of 512 infants who either had documented food allergies, or had been determined to be more susceptible to them. According to ScienceDaily, 72 percent of the children observed had at least one allergic reaction in that time. Eleven percent of those incidents were considered severe, with symptoms such as throat swelling, breathing difficulty, low blood pressure and faintness.

The majority of the allergic reactions on file were reportedly caused by three primary foods  – milk, eggs and peanuts.

Since the majority of the reactions were caused by the direct consumption of these foods, which 90 percent of the time was accidental, the organization encourages caretakers to be especially vigilant when it comes to children's diets.

Probiotics have also been found to lessen the severity of these reactions in certain cases. One study currently underway at the Pasteur Institute of Iran is investigating the reported benefits of these live cultures, which have been found to boost the immune system and help reduce the effects of lactose intolerance and other food allergies.

Certain nutritional dietary supplements, like Nutrivene Baby Biotic Powder, contain these beneficial components, which may potentially help combat the symptoms associated with certain food allergies in small children. To find out more about Nutrivene Baby Biotic Powder, click here.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 19th, 2012 at 2:03 pm. Both comments and pings are currently closed.