Not only is May Celiac Disease Awareness Month, the second full week of May is Food Allergy Awareness Week as well. It allows the food sensitivity community to come together to work as a team, teaching people how the food we eat may make us very ill. Today Iris Shamus, CEO of AllerMates, shares about some common misconceptions about food allergies. She's also offering a GREAT giveaway, so make sure you read through to the end!
Common Misconceptions About Allergies
As a mom to a nut allergic son and the founder of AllerMates, a company dedicated to safeguarding kids with food allergies and other health concerns, it’s important for me to spread awareness about food allergies and correct all the misconceptions out there! Have you heard any of these allergy myths?
Allergies are for life.
Allergies are unpredictable, meaning they can develop later in life or show up early, but fade away over time. About a quarter of kids with food allergies will outgrow them by the time they reach 10 years of age, however during these 10 years, it’s important to protect and educate them to keep them safe.
(**Unlike food allergies, Celiac Disease IS a life-long disease. It is not outgrown.**)
Babies shouldn’t be given allergenic foods before they turn one.
There is conflicting information on this, with some research showing that giving allergens to babies may help them from developing an allergy in the future. However, other doctors believe it is too risky to do so. Because research on this topic is fairly new and hasn’t been thoroughly tested, it’s best to talk to your doctor before giving your baby any allergenic foods.
Allergic reactions come from allergens.
Once our body comes into contact with an allergen, the immune system misidentifies it as a harmful substance and jumps into action. The immune system then begins to create antibodies to attack the allergen. So technically, it’s not the allergen that causes the reaction, but rather how our body identifies and responds to it.
You know how you’ll react to an allergen.
If there’s one thing that is certain about allergies, it’s that nothing is certain when it comes to allergic reactions. Even if you have never had a severe reaction to an allergen, there’s a first time for everything. Allergies are unfortunately, unpredictable, so you must always keep kids with food allergies prepared for the worst by carrying two shots of epinephrine at all times. Our medicine cases are designed to help parents and kids keep allergy medicines handy while on-the- go, and even come with an emergency contact and allergy medication information card.
If you’d like to join the AllerMates community of parents, caretakers, educators and physicians dedicated to spreading awareness about kids with food allergies, sign up to receive our AllerMates newsletter. Every month, we’ll send the latest news, product updates and allergy-friendly product reviews directly to your inbox!
All the best,
Iris
Iris Shamus Wife, mother to three awesome kids and founder/CEO of AllerMates. Based in New York, Iris and her team create helpful content, answer emails, ship their products and obsess every day about keeping kids safe.
Iris and her team are giving away a Gluten-Free Snack Safely Bundle! Valued at $35, it contains a lunch bag, two snack bags and a navy blue "alert" bag tag. Sign up through the Rafflecopter site below. Entrants must live in the continental United States.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
You can also find other neat
items on their site, such as a wrist bracelets, stickers, and school resources. They're also developing a bi-monthly top-8 allergen free subscription box service.
