Happy Food Allergy Awareness Week

Did you know that ninety percent of all allergic reactions in the U.S. are caused by just eight foods (milk, eggs, wheat, soy, fish, shellfish, peanuts, and tree nuts such as walnuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, pecans, etc.)?

Neither did I. Nor did I realize that twelve million Americans, or one out of every 25, have a food allergy that can lead to anaphylaxis -- which results in more than 30,000 emergency room visits each year. And I certainly wasn’t aware of Food Allergy Awareness Week, despite this being the tenth such annual effort put forth by the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network.

"What is food to one man may be fierce poison to others" said the Roman poet Lucretius, and this year FAAN is focusing on how food to one child may be fierce poison to another child. Anne Muñoz-Furlong, CEO and founder of the anti-allergy group, explains how over the last decade “we’ve seen a doubling of the incidence of food allergies in children”.

This years’ designated awareness week, which runs from May 13th through 19th, aims to educate the public on ways to prevent kids with the condition to avoid suffering a poisonous and potentially fatal reaction. Visit this site for more info. --Lee Llein