Food Allergy Action Hero of the Month

Meet Kathleen Silverman, Founder and President of ELL Foundation.
I had the pleasure of speaking with and interviewing Kathy about her passion to create a safer environment for children who are diagnosed with food allergies and working to promote a safer food supply overall.
Q: Tell me about yourself and your connection to food allergies.
A: I am the mother of a 7-year old with severe food allergies and anaphylaxis to milk, egg, peanut, tree nuts, and mustard along with environmental allergies and asthma. Prior to my son's diagnosis, I worked for more than 15 years in marketing and held the position of Partner for a strategic marketing consulting firm in Chicago, IL.
Q: Was there a significant event that inspired you to start ELL Foundation?
A: From my son's initial diagnosis of a milk allergy at 6 months, we struggled as we walked blindly not fully understanding food allergies and the many challenges and risks to safety of a food allergic child. During our son's 4th year of life, he suffered 2 anaphylactic reactions to food products that were mislabeled and contained milk ingredients that were not listed on the ingredient label. One reaction was so severe, we almost lost our son. During a 5 mile trip to the hospital the EMTs had to stop to pick up additional medical personel to assist my son. Each food product was later tested by an independent lab and confirmed for the presence of milk ingredients. During the same year, our son's preschool was supposed to maintain a 'no food' policy kindly requested that we search for an alternative school given the difficulty in controlling food/treats brought in for children's birthdays and other celebrations. My ever changing moment occurred one day when I looked into the innocent face of a 4 year old child and thought 'This is not the life that I want for you! You, as well as every child with or without food allergies, should have the right to eat foods and to be safe and to safely attend school to learn'.
Q: ELL Foundation has evolved quite successfully. It began sending out alerts about manufactured foods that resulted in an allergic reaction and/or cross contamination to being a leader in food allergy safety education of parents and teachers. Tell us about this evolution and inherent success.
A: ELL is very proud of its position as a leading organization recognized as making actionable changes in the area of food allergy safety: Educating to 'Protect Allergic Children Across America', (PAC). The organization continues to support allergen ingredient mislabeling by collecting Allergic Incident Reports from consumers who suspect a mislabeled food product resulted in an allergic reaction. ELL assists consumers with the following:
-Properly submitting the suspect food product to an
independent laboratory for testing,
-Notifying the respective manufacturer of the Allergic
Incident Report that was submitted,
-Notifying the FDA of the Allergic Incident Report that
was submitted.
With regard to the PAC training, we have also experienced an enormous level of interest.
Q: Would you share your goals for the future of ELL?
A: My sincere mission for the organization is to provide the financial and support services required to fulfill allergy safety training services to each and every family in need and to every uneducated school, child care facility, camp and community venue in need to better protect our children! ELL is also positioning to play a role as visible advocates in support of the federal government in its efforts to provide more accurate and complete allergy ingredient labeling, including advisory statements describing the shared processing environment and to monitor and enforce penalties for adherence among manufacturers.
Q: What would be your number one or most important advice for parents of children with food allergies?
A: Taking action to better protect your child offers a much needed sense of control and confidence in dealing with this potentially 'out of control' ailment. Get involved! Get involved at your child's school, within the community and with family and friends to provide education on your child's food allergy history and the requirements that you request in better protecting him/her. Take charge! There are many wonderful organizations across the country that promote food allergy awareness. You can make a difference in the lives of ALL food allergic children!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

The Leap Study in Great Britain found relation between eczema in infants and food allergy

According to the 'Leap study' in London, ( http://www.leapstudy.co.uk/index.html) the presence of eczema in infants 4 to 11 months was related to food allergy. In the study the researchers tested the presence of immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies in 640 infants and found that 31% were allergic to milk, 14 to 23% to nuts including peanut, and 16% to other foods. Findings have been recently reported on; http://www.emaxhealth.com/1506/50/35894/children-eczema-often-have-food-allergies.html

Leap, 'Learning Early About Peanut Allergy', was founded by British allergy specialists, who are trying to discover and determine the 'best strategy to prevent peanut allergy in children', (as written on the Leap study website; http://www.leapstudy.co.uk/index.html).  The results of the study on eczema and food allergy is a major step in finding out how to prevent and control food allergies.   These doctors are conducting two different approaches to eliminating and/or controlling a food allergy reaction; 1. avoidance of the peanut proteins and 2. whether measurable portion control and controlled frequency of peanut protein ingestion will minimize the peanut reaction to a lesser degree or absence thereof.  Recent findings on the connection between eczema and food allergy adds to the knowledge base needed to find a 'cure'. 

There are other studies involving food allergies and desensitization in the United States. Beginning in October, 2009 and now going into phase two Dr. Robert Wood, Study Chair and Chief of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology of Johns Hopkins Children's Center, is studying the efficacy of a peanut vaccine. This research is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.  Go to; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT00850668 for detailed information about this clinical trial.

At Duke University, the Duke Food Allergy Initiative (DFAI), was created to study desensitization and treatments in children and adults who have food allergies.  A study involving infants, milk allergy, and formula is slated for the future.  Currently the DFAI is studying, according to their website;
  1. 'Desensitization study of egg allergic patients
  2. Desensitization study of peanut allergic patients
  3. Immunotherapy for patients with peanut anaphylaxis'
To learn more go to their website; http://www.dukechildrens.org/services/duke_food_allergy_initiative

Duke University has already found success while performing a clinical trial in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Childrens Center.  This study was conducted with 19 individuals allergic to milk.  Of the 19 children, ages 6 to 17, twelve were able to tolerate increasingly higher doses of milk protein.  Those who were given a placebo were not able to tolerate a higher dose of the milk protein.
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