food allergies

How should someone adjust their diet chart if they have specific dietary restrictions or food allergies?

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If you have specific dietary restrictions or food allergies, adjusting your diet chart requires careful planning and knowledge of suitable substitutes. Here’s a breakdown on how to approach this:

Understanding Your Needs:

  • Identify Restrictions: Pinpoint exactly what you need to avoid. This could be a single food item (like peanuts for a peanut allergy) or an entire food group (like dairy for lactose intolerance).
  • Planning Your Diet Chart:
  • Focus on Substitutes: Find healthy alternatives for the restricted foods. There are numerous options available, from plant-based milks for dairy allergies to gluten-free grains for celiac disease.
  • Variety is Key: Explore a diverse range of foods within your restrictions to ensure you get all the essential nutrients.
  • Nutritional Adequacy: Certain restrictions may require extra attention to specific nutrients. For example, those avoiding dairy may need to focus on calcium-rich plant-based sources or supplements.

Useful Resources:

  • Allergy and Disease Association Websites: Many associations provide detailed information on specific allergies and conditions, including recommended foods and meal plans.
  • Dietician or Nutritionist: They can create a personalized plan considering your preferences and restrictions.
  • Cookbooks and Websites: There’s a wealth of resources available online and in libraries specifically focused on allergy-friendly or restricted-diet recipes.

Here are some additional tips:

  • Read Food Labels Carefully: Always double-check food labels for any hidden ingredients you need to avoid.
  • Plan Your Meals: Spend time planning your meals and snacks for the week to avoid unhealthy choices when pressed for time.
  • Cook More at Home: This gives you more control over the ingredients used in your meals.
  • Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment: There are many delicious and nutritious dishes you can create within your dietary restrictions.

Remember:

  • Adjusting your diet due to restrictions can be challenging, but it’s definitely achievable.
  • Don’t hesitate to seek professional guidance from a doctor or dietitian for personalized advice.
  • With planning and exploration, you can create a healthy and enjoyable diet that works for you!

New Guidelines Tell Parents When To Introduce Babies To Peanut Products 

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The National Institutes of Health has announced new guidelines for when parents should begin introducing peanut-containing foods into the diets of infants at risk for food allergies.

After multiple recent studies showing that feeding peanut-containing foods to infants can reduce the risk of peanut allergies, there are new federal guidelines for parents about when to start feeding their infants such foods.

The National Institutes of Health announced Thursday that a panel of allergy experts recommends that parents introduce peanut-containing foods into the diets of babies as young as 4 to 6 months.

As the NIH summary for parents and caregivers states, introducing babies with severe eczema or egg allergy — conditions that increase the risk of peanut allergy — to foods containing peanuts at that age can reduce the risk of developing peanut allergy. However, the guidelines spell out that these infants should be evaluated by an allergy specialist before their parents or caregivers introduce them to peanuts.

Hey, Baby, Meet Peanuts: How And When To Safely Introduce The Food

For infants without the risk factors of eczema or known food allergies, parents can stick to whatever age-appropriate diet they prefer.

As NPR’s Allison Aubrey reports, “parents of infants used to be told to hold off on introducing peanut-containing foods, sometimes until the toddler years, especially if there was a family history of allergies.”

Experts thought this could reduce the chances of developing an allergy.

But over the past few years, Allison says, several large studies such as this one and this one “have found that babies at high risk for becoming allergic to peanuts are less likely to develop the allergy if they are regularly fed peanut-containing foods in the first year of life.”

As NPR’s Patti Neighmond has reported:

“The guidelines are largely based on dramatic findings from a large study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2015. Researchers found that babies at high risk of developing a peanut allergy who were fed the equivalent of about 4 heaping teaspoons of peanut butter each week, starting at the age of 4 to 11 months, were about 80 percent less likely to develop an allergy to the legume by age 5 than similar kids who avoided peanuts. The benefit held up even after the children stopped getting the puree, a follow-up study found.

“Allergic reactions to peanuts can range from hives or rashes to, in the most extreme cases, trouble breathing and even death.”

 The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has published the full text of the guidelines for the prevention of peanut allergies, as well as summaries for doctors and parents, on its website.
 

Infants and small children should never be given whole peanuts due to the risk of choking, the NIH cautions. A video aimed at parents warns that even undiluted peanut butter can be dangerous for infants because it is thick and sticky.

The American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology video, which features Northwestern University pediatrician Ruchi S. Gupta, recommends adding hot water to 2 teaspoons of peanut butter to make a warm puree. Feed a little bit of the puree to the child, and then monitor for about 10 minutes to make sure there is no reaction such as hives, rash or trouble breathing before continuing to feed the child peanut-containing foods.

GUT BACTERIA THAT PROTECT AGAINST FOOD ALLERGIES IDENTIFIED

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The presence of Clostridia, a common class of gut bacteria, protects against food allergies, a new study in mice finds. By inducing immune responses that prevent food allergens from entering the bloodstream,Clostridia minimize allergen exposure and prevent sensitization — a key step in the development of food allergies. The discovery points toward probiotic therapies for this so-far untreatable condition, report scientists from the University of Chicago, Aug 25 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Although the causes of food allergy — a sometimes deadly immune response to certain foods — are unknown, studies have hinted that modern hygienic or dietary practices may play a role by disturbing the body’s natural bacterial composition. In recent years, food allergy rates among children have risen sharply – increasing approximately 50 percent between 1997 and 2011 — and studies have shown a correlation to antibiotic and antimicrobial use.

“Environmental stimuli such as antibiotic overuse, high fat diets, caesarean birth, removal of common pathogens and even formula feeding have affected the microbiota with which we’ve co-evolved,” said study senior author Cathryn Nagler, PhD, Bunning Food Allergy Professor at the University of Chicago. “Our results suggest this could contribute to the increasing susceptibility to food allergies.”

To test how gut bacteria affect food allergies, Nagler and her team investigated the response to food allergens in mice. They exposed germ-free mice (born and raised in sterile conditions to have no resident microorganisms) and mice treated with antibiotics as newborns (which significantly reduces gut bacteria) to peanut allergens. Both groups of mice displayed a strong immunological response, producing significantly higher levels of antibodies against peanut allergens than mice with normal gut bacteria.

This sensitization to food allergens could be reversed, however, by reintroducing a mix of Clostridia bacteria back into the mice. Reintroduction of another major group of intestinal bacteria, Bacteroides, failed to alleviate sensitization, indicating that Clostridia have a unique, protective role against food allergens.

Closing the door

To identify this protective mechanism, Nagler and her team studied cellular and molecular immune responses to bacteria in the gut. Genetic analysis revealed that Clostridia caused innate immune cells to produce high levels of interleukin-22 (IL-22), a signaling molecule known to decrease the permeability of the intestinal lining.

Antibiotic-treated mice were either given IL-22 or were colonized withClostridia. When exposed to peanut allergens, mice in both conditions showed reduced allergen levels in their blood, compared to controls. Allergen levels significantly increased, however, after the mice were given antibodies that neutralized IL-22, indicating that Clostridia-induced IL-22 prevents allergens from entering the bloodstream.

“We’ve identified a bacterial population that protects against food allergen sensitization,” Nagler said. “The first step in getting sensitized to a food allergen is for it to get into your blood and be presented to your immune system. The presence of these bacteria regulates that process.” She cautions, however, that these findings likely apply at a population level, and that the cause-and-effect relationship in individuals requires further study.

While complex and largely undetermined factors such as genetics greatly affect whether individuals develop food allergies and how they manifest, the identification of a bacteria-induced barrier-protective response represents a new paradigm for preventing sensitization to food.Clostridia bacteria are common in humans and represent a clear target for potential therapeutics that prevent or treat food allergies. Nagler and her team are working to develop and test compositions that could be used for probiotic therapy and have filed a provisional patent.

“It’s exciting because we know what the bacteria are; we have a way to intervene,” Nagler said. “There are of course no guarantees, but this is absolutely testable as a therapeutic against a disease for which there’s nothing. As a mom, I can imagine how frightening it must be to worry every time your child takes a bite of food.”

“Food allergies affect 15 million Americans, including one in 13 children, who live with this potentially life-threatening disease that currently has no cure,” said Mary Jane Marchisotto, senior vice president of research at Food Allergy Research & Education. “We have been pleased to support the research that has been conducted by Dr. Nagler and her colleagues at the University of Chicago.”