Allergens: A Potential Kiss of Death

“A food that is improperly labeled is misbranded,” the FDA official says. “A misbranded food can be seized. Companies can be sanctioned and prosecuted. We cannot order a company to do a recall, but we do, however, have a fair amount of influence.”

Arising Allergens

The new federal guidelines indeed reveal the complexity of food allergen management. For the consumer, it is even more perplexing.

“There are two levels to this, one is the true allergies and the other is intolerances,” says Bruce Ritter, CEO of ELISA Technologies Inc. (Gainesville, Fla.), and a member of AOAC Food Allergen Task Force.

Food allergies and food intolerances are not one in the same. According to the FDA, food intolerance is an adverse food-induced reaction that does not involve the immune system. Lactose intolerance is one example. A person with lactose intolerance lacks an enzyme that is needed to digest milk sugar. When the person eats milk products, symptoms such as gas, bloating and abdominal pain may occur. A “food allergy” occurs when the immune system reacts to a certain food, says Ritter.

The most common form of an immune system reaction, he explains, happens when the body creates immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies to the food.

And when these IgE antibodies react with the food, histamines and other chemicals called mediators can cause hives, asthma or other symptoms of an allergic reaction, the most dangerous of which is anaphylaxis.

Food allergies are indeed a growing public health and food safety concern in the U.S., and many agencies, federal and consumer alike, report a doubling of food allergies over the past decade, due largely in part to the peanut.

According to National Institutes of Health Diseases (NIH; Bethesda, Md.), allergies are the sixth leading cause of chronic disease in the U.S., costing the health care system $18 billion annually. In 2002, the NIH reported that approximately 14 million office visits to health care providers were attributed to allergic rhinitis.

According to The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN; Fairfax, Va.), approximately 11 million Americans suffer from food allergies, with 6.5 million allergic to seafood and 3 million allergic to peanuts or tree nuts, which include, almonds, pecans and walnuts. FAAN also indicates that approximately 2 million school-aged children have food allergies.

In fact, the young lady in Quebec who died fits snugly into another FAAN statistic, too: Teens and young adults with peanut or tree nut allergies and asthma appear to be at increased risk for severe or fatal allergic reactions.

Often thought to afflict just children and young adults, allergies remained poised to strike at any point in one’s life, according to a recent article in The New York Times.

The Times article notes that hay fever has been diagnosed in an estimated 14 percent of American adults, or nearly 30 million people, according to a large survey financed by Altana Pharma, a pharmaceutical company. Another 3.5 percent have allergies to food. That number may be even greater because experts believe that many never seek a diagnosis.

Those who develop allergies as adults probably experienced an allergic episode earlier in life, but do not recall the allergic episode, the Times article indicated. In babies and toddlers, allergies tend to take the form of eczema, and children suffering from seasonal allergies tend to be less bothered by a runny nose than adults. In many children, the allergies fade during the adolescent years, only to return later.

In other cases, adult allergy sufferers have no history of allergic sensitivity.

Dr. Michael Blaiss, a past president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, said that 30 to 40 percent of the population inherits a genetic predisposition to allergies. “I don’t think anyone knows what tips people over,” Dr. Blaiss told the Times.