"We go out to eat, but we bring all her food with us," he says. "It's just not worth taking the chance."
Wood, who cares for Sarah at Johns Hopkins, says, "She's got it a lot tougher than someone who just has a peanut allergy. She's dealing with this stuff on an every-single-meal basis. Her parents have really helped provide her with a wonderful life."
That life includes her favorite activities--ice-skating (she likes the cool air of the rink) and swimming (the moisture and chlorine are beneficial to her skin, according to her doctors).
Sarah continues to outgrow some of her allergies, and has added about a dozen foods into her diet over the past year, Wood says.
"The taste in my mouth when I'm trying something new is very different," says Sarah. " Strawberries felt hard because of the seeds. They tasted great but I didn't like the texture, so my dad tried to take the seeds out. I still didn't like the strawberries that much, but I kept reminding myself over and over again that if I passed the test, I would be able to have a lot of things with strawberries in it. Like now I can have strawberry Skittles."
The food at Sarah's Montessori school is nut-free, and on special school occasions, Brenda Buster tries to prepare something that Sarah and her classmates can enjoy, such as some types of candy, homemade cupcakes made without eggs or dairy products, a nondairy frozen dessert, or popcorn prepared at home.
"We make our own bread and most other foods," says Brenda. "Although we do have several more products we can buy, including one brand of potato chips and one brand of pretzels, saltines and several types of canned vegetables."
Still, the Busters must be vigilant and can be found constantly checking labels. For example, a type of food may be safe from one manufacturer but not from another. "One brand of candy corn may be OK, while another contains eggs," says Brenda.
Even foods that have proved to be safe previously can subsequently cause a problem. "Manufacturers can change the ingredients without changing the packaging," adds Mike Buster. "We appreciate manufacturers who clearly label their products."
Food Labeling: A Critical Component
Currently, the only way to treat food allergies is to avoid the foods that trigger reactions. Even the most diligent label-readers and ingredient-checkers likely will be inadvertently exposed to proteins that elicit an allergic response at some point. That's why Wood, Sarah and others with food allergies severe enough to cause anaphylactic reactions should wear medical alert bracelets or necklaces and carry a syringe of adrenaline (epinephrine) obtained by prescription from their physicians.Anaphylactic allergic reactions can be fatal even when they begin with mild symptoms such as a tingling in the mouth and throat or gastrointestinal discomfort. Antihistamines and bronchodilators can be used to treat less severe symptoms.
FDA's Role
Since 2000, the FDA has presented information on allergen risk and labeling requirements at more than a dozen locations nationwide, says Kenneth J. Falci, Ph.D., who leads the FDA's initiatives on food allergies.The meetings provide the FDA with firsthand accounts from people with food allergies and data that can be used to improve consumer labeling.
The FDA's food allergy efforts in 2001 include focusing on the eight most common food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, wheat, tree nuts, peanuts, soybeans and crustaceans (such as shrimp and crabs). Proteins in these eight major foods are estimated to cause 90 percent of the allergic reactions in the United States.
