Allergy Awareness Week draws attention to growing problem

Donathan Prater
Staff Writer
Published: May 12, 2008

When Kyle Graddy, 7, and his sister Amelia, 5, speak before their homeroom classes at Cary Woods Elementary and Lee-Scott Academy this week, they’ll be looking for the attention of their audiences.
However, what they won’t be looking for is any reactions. Reactions of the allergic kind that is.

This week, May 11 through 17, marks the 11th Annual Food Allergy Awareness Week (FAAW), an effort designed to raise public awareness, education and research on behalf of those living with food allergies and anaphylaxis (the most severe form of an allergic reaction).

That’s a term Barbara Graddy had to become quickly acquainted with after her two children were diagnosed with food allergies.

“Before their diagnosis, I had no idea of the seriousness of food allergies,” she said.

Both Amelia and Kyle are allergic to tree nuts and peanuts, which are considered to be lifelong allergies.

It’s important to make the distinction between tree nuts and peanuts considering the two belong to different food families. The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network estimates the number of Americans living with food allergies at 12 million. The FAAN has found that eight foods account for 90 percent of all food-allergic reactions in the United States, including milk, eggs,peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, soy, fish and shellfish. An allergic reaction to a food item can begin in minutes or be delayed for several hours and include symptoms like hives, sneezing, choking, gagging and diarrhea. Anaphylaxis can even lead to death.

Another key point Jan Fletcher said people need to understand is the difference between a food allergy and a food intolerance.

“A food allergy is a reaction to a food item whereas a food intolerance is where a person may consume a food item but their body’s digestive system may not be able to process certain components of that food,” said Fletcher, a registered dietician with East Alabama Medical Center.

In addition to giving all the labels of the food items she purchases a second look to make sure that they do not contain tree nut products, Barbara Graddy also makes sure her children have their EpiPens (an auto-injector device containing adrenaline used to treat anaphylactic shock) with them at all times.

“It’s a daily learning process for parents of children with food allergies,” she said.

Part of that learning is making sure that schools have the proper tools in place to help students should an allergic event take place there.

And that’s the idea behind the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management Act (FAAMA) passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in April 2008, Graddy said.

If approved by another Senate committee, the bill will later be presented before the full Senate and provide uniform guidelines on creating emergency plans for dealing with children in schools with food allergies.

“Getting the word out about food allergies is so important because the number of food allergy cases is growing quickly,” said Graddy, who is a member of Parents of Children with Food Allergies, a local support group started in January 2008.

For more information about food allergies, visit http://www.foodallergyproject.com.