I am seeing more and more children with food allergies these
days. Many parents struggle with the fear of “what if my child
unknowingly eats something they are allergic to and has a full
blown allergic reaction when I’m not around?" A study published
in Pediatrics confirms the advice I have been giving my patients
for years: make sure your child carries more than one dose of
epinephrine. The study published in Pediatrics (March 2010)
looked at the results among more than 1,200 children who were
treated for food allergies in two large Boston hospitals over a
5 year period. During an allergic reaction, 44% of the young
patients were treated with at least one does of epinephrine and
12% of those who received the drug needed more than one dose.
Food allergies numbers are on the rise; up about 20% over the
last 1o years. Nearly three million school-aged children in the
U.S. have some sort of food allergy. Peanuts, tree nuts and milk
trigger most allergic reactions. And some children are even
allergic to shellfish,