Frequent food allergies cause risk to students
- posted: 27 Nov. 2007
- scrollnews@byui.edu
“No thanks,” said Tiffany Borg, a sophomore studying communication, when her new roommate offered her a carrot for the first time. She often turns down food from roommates to avoid her body’s severe reactions to certain foods.
Such is the life of about 11 million Americans suffering from food allergies, according to Newsweek magazine. Borg is allergic to many common fruits and vegetables, including carrots, bananas and cantaloupe.
Rising numbers of people with food allergies prompted new research into allergy treatment and prevention.
In one study, research scientists gave adults with peanut allergies small doses of a laboratory-created peanut protein. The eventual goal is to create a peanut-allergy vaccine. The study was conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 2005.
“That’s all experimental,” said Dr. Andrew Bradbury of the BYU-Idaho Student Health Center. “Other than avoidance, there is no real treatment [for food allergies].”
Tolerance
Bradbury explained that many people take capsules containing small doses of foods that cause allergies as treatment. The idea is to slowly build up a tolerance in the immune system to the foods.
Borg experienced something like this in the form of injections beginning at age six. She called them her “allergy shots” and said she wasn’t convinced that this method helped.
There is no evidence that this method, known as immunotherapy, is effective against hives or food allergies, according to www.webmd.com.
“I never really saw much improvement,” Borg said. “I only took them because my mom made me.”
Borg does not have to worry that her food allergies could be deadly. Life-threatening allergies are not too common, Bradbury said.
However, the swelling, itchy throat, hives and difficulty breathing that may result from carelessly consuming a banana slice aren’t worth the risk.
Outgrowth
One BYU-I student said she would get bad rashes whenever she ate blueberries as a child, but she grew out of the allergy. “One day I just said, ‘I want some blueberry pie,’ and so I plunged in, and I was fine,” said Amber Benson, a freshman studying secondary education.
Many people diagnosed with allergies, are given pre-filled doses of a medicine called epinephrine. This substance can save the lives of people having an allergic reaction called “anaphylaxis,” which is life-threatening and makes breathing difficult.
Severe allergic reactions should be treated at a hospital, according to www.emedicinehealth.com, a medical Web site. 
