Five Guys scheduled to open this month

No doubt, Maeve. I am also allergic to avocados and bananas. What can be done about that? I think it's my responsibility to avoid them, as I've done for years. It's not easy but I've been able to do it.

 

Just curious...why do you think so many people/children are allergic to peanuts these days? I don't remember quite so many when I was growing up. Also many children have asthma now. My brother has asthma, however, he's in his 50's and had it since he was a child, but it was rare......wonder why there are so many now?

 

P.S. I hate those restaurants that offer free bananas and allow customers to throw the peels on the floor. I am more worried about slipping on them than being allergic to them.

 

One idea:
In many european countries doctors recommend not feeding babies and kids any kind of nuts. The earliest age to start exposing them is 3 years. Nuts carry a high risk for allergies, so if you expose a child to early, you may end up with a child that has allergies. This is a "may" not a "must", so you can still end up with a child that has allergies but you limit the risk.

Another idea:
If your child has a genetic risk of developing allergies and you expose that child to high allergic nutrition who may drigger an allergy. In our family we have a lot of allergic dermatitis. So my daughter's nutrition variety was very limited for her first 3 years. Not nuts, no chocolate, no red bell pepper or tomatoes etc. Today she can eat everything and only gets itchy skin when she eats to much sweet stuff in one day!

Mila

 

Interesting....my son is 24...has no allergies to anything....his dad has ragweed/grass allergies, but no food and I don't have any allergies. I fed my son all foods right from when he could start eating solids......very interesting.....

 

This is why I wrote "may" in every sentence!

Mila

 

I did not feed my daughter nuts at all. We found out during allergy testing for another food allergy.

AFGM, go back and read my last post. I never (not once in any of my posts) say that I wanted Five Guys to ditch the peanuts. I am more than aware about avoiding allergens—again read my last post. The only thing I asked for was common courtesy about eating in public. But as with many things in our society common courtesy is lacking.

As for the other posts about allergies. Ragweed and other allergies in parents can increase the risk of allergic disease in children, which can be allergies to food, to dogs, to pollen, etc. It is not a one to one correllation that the child will develop allergies or that they will develop the same allergies as the parents. If both parents have allergies, the children have a 70 percent chance.

There are many theories as to why allergies and asthma are increasing. As for peanut allergy, it doubled in children from 2000 to 2005.

 

Maeve, thanks for the link. For the longest time I always thought my reaction was a product of the pesticides or preservatives used on vegetables. According to this article, that's not true. Still doesn't explain why I can eat fresh garden tomatoes, but not store bought tomatoes.

 

You're welcome. Ah, but aren't fresh garden tomatoes tastier? Always look at the bright side. I actually found out about OAS with my daughter when I urged her to try cantaloupe only to see her mouth get red. We had a repeat of that this weekend with cucumber. She's never going to want to try any foods I give her. She probably thinks I'm trying to poison her.

 

Simple solution...if you have doubts don't go! Everyone can say something they don't like about almost any place...does that mean the rest of us can't enjoy it? No!
Quit your whinning and find another burger joint to dine at. Fudrockers is coming soon...

 

My son was also diagnosed with his peanut allergy through testing since he was allergic to a laundry list of foods. Fortunatly he has outgrown most of his allergies but still has peanuts and a few others. I know that we just avoid reastaunts with peanuts. It is scary though since he is only 5 and so many adults don't realize the sevverity of it and will offer food to him. (Candy at the bank and barber, etc.)

A great resource for people to learn more is www.foodallergy.org

It is also worth mentioning that food allergies can develop later on in life. I know numerous people who have developed serious allergies to shellfish and to nuts later on in life. It is a scary thing but you learn to manage it.

 

I have this nagging question; how many kids with food allergies were or were not breast fed?

The reason I ask is that it is said that in the first few months of life, mother's milk passes on many of the antibodies that children need to build up immunity to alot of different diseases, allergies etc.

 

I breast fed my son until he was a year and he has allergies and asthma. There are theroies that the allergens pass through the breast milk but then I have talked to allergist at Johns Hopkins and they say that there really is no proof that is the case.

I think are food supply is radically different now then what it was when most of us were kids. I know that I read labels on food all the time and there are so many additives that who knows what is causing all the allergies.

I know that I always thought I was lactose intolerant and then I tried organic milk and I was fine. So who knows what is causing all the problems. I wish I knew.

 

I thought I'd take this opportunity to let those that are interested in food allergy to support FAAN the Food Allegy Anaphylaxis Network by donating to the walk to find a cure and research as to why there is an increase in food allergies in young children. Our business, Go Bananas, will be sponsoring a team of walkers to raise money for FAAN to help find a cure for our babies. We'd love to have as many Loudoun residents who are affected directly or indirectly by food allergies join our team of walkers.

And... FWIW my son was breastfed and was diagnosed with peanut, egg, wheat and sesame before the child ever put a bite of food in his mouth. Therefore, he was exposed through my diet exclusively.

For those of you who have the "go eat elsewhere attitude", your comments don't hurt us, as we are used to those comments and insensitivies and we just learn to live with them. (I suppose that's how people in wheel chairs must have felt before ADA.) Ultimately, we know it is our responsibility and not the general public's responsibility to protect our children from the the food that can kill them in less than 30 seconds.

With food allegy diagnosis on the rise, I hope that those of you reading this will never have children, grandchildren, or a significant other who is diagnosed with a life threatening food allergy because it is a truly exhausting, confusing and certainly a heart wrenching experience.

 

Thanks for the info ... I suspect it may have more to do with the various way foods are now prepared and packaged, then anything else.