Did you know 1 in 10 babies born in Australia today will develop a food allergy? You read that correctly, 1 in 10! This is one of the stats I learnt this past week during Food Allergy Week.

According to Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia “the risk of severe food allergic reactions can sometimes be unpredictable. Some children do outgrow their food allergy. The most common triggers in childhood are egg, milk, peanut and tree nuts. Other common triggers include fish, shellfish, sesame, soy and wheat. Peanuts, tree nuts, seeds and seafood are the major triggers for lifelong allergies.

Some food allergies can be severe, causing potentially life threatening reactions known as anaphylaxis.”

If you’ve got kids at school, kindergarten or daycare you’ll be well aware of the restrictions around foods that can be brought in. As parents it’s our duty to ensure foods that are life threatening (such as peanuts) do not go to school with our children.

As part of Food Allergy Week you could ‘adopt an allergy’ for a day to better understand the challenges people with that allergy face every single day. For this challenge I adopted Coeliac Disease. I thought this would be simple given the increased prevalence of gluten free foods but it was really difficult! There’s avoiding bread but then there are so many places for gluten to be hidden in dressings and sauces, used as a thickener so picking a dish in a restaurant becomes a real challenge. Or not being able to use the same butter, spreads & toaster as the rest of the family due to risk of cross contamination with bread crumbs.

No one knows why the number of kids with allergies is growing but it’s here and something we have to be vigilant about to ensure the safety of all our children.

At The Sugar Breakup we get a lot of requests for adaptions of recipes to remove allergy causing foods. We help out wherever we can so don’t be afraid to ask. Also if you have a food allergy and have adapted one of our recipes please let us know, we love to share!

For more information check out http://www.foodallergyaware.com.au or http://www.allergyfacts.org.au.

Do you or your kids have an allergy? How do you avoid eating potentially dangerous foods? What do you do to protect your kids?

Note: The above is provided for information purposes only. Please consult your GP if you want to learn more about food allergies.