Snow Day Requirement

It's snowing!  And, has been since yesterday afternoon!  We've had some sleet, but mostly, just snow.  It's wonderful.  Where we live in North Carolina, we often get freezing rain, but not inches of nice, powdery snow.   We're up to about 6 inches and counting.  It's been years since we've had this much.  The kids have already been outside and are now back in warming up.  Abigail's first request upon entering the house was for hot chocolate.

I didn't have any packets of hot cocoa so we improvised.  It actually turned out really good, and I don't mind at all that Abigail drank the whole mug.  I purchase organic chocolate soy milk for my 2 year old son to drink at lunch.  I heated a mug of the milk in the microwave for 45 seconds, stirred it and then heated it again for another 45 seconds.  Topped with a couple of marshmallows, it was not only a very rich cup of hot chocolate, but probably more nutritious than any of the powdered kind.

Recently, I contacted Nestle about their hot cocoa.  Abigail's class was having it for a treat one day at school, and I needed to find out if it was safe for her peanut allergy.  Here's an excerpt from their response:

There is no risk of peanut or tree nut contamination in our cocoa products.....

Factories that use a critical allergen as an ingredient take all precautions to avoid cross-contact of products that do not normally contain these allergens and products that do not carry a specific mention in the ingredient statement. Precautionary measures include efficient cleaning of production lines and equipment and strict separation of materials that may contain critical allergens. If an allergen does not appear on the ingredient statement, then it has not been added to the product and the likelihood of cross-contact is so extremely low that the risk is insignificant.

Please note that ingredients and manufacturing conditions can and do change. If you do need to pay attention to allergens in your diet, we strongly encourage you to always check the product label and the list of ingredients.

Now that I know I can just heat up our organic soy milk, I won't be purchasing any more "snow day" packets of cocoa mix. They're too "processed" anyway. But, I do have a question.  How do you moms that have kids with life-threatening nut allergies, or you adults with an allergy, feel about that statement "the likelihood of cross-contact is so extremely low that the risk is insignificant"?  I ask because I feel it's a "CYA" statement from Nestle.  But mostly, I ask because when I initially read the statement, my first thought was that any risk was too much.  I then started thinking that I'm just being over-the-top cautious (and many would think I was).  In this case, I let Abigail drink the hot chocolate at school, but I did so hesitantly.  So, if you have an allergy in your household, I'd really like to hear your opinion.  Too risky? Or not?

One side note for purchasers of soy milk.  The "Silk" brand soy milk is no longer organic.  Dean Foods, the new owner of the "Silk" brand removed the "organic" label on the packaging without alerting the public.  They state on their website, that the "Silk" product is not made with genetically modified soybeans, however there is a large movement in the organic community to boycott this brand.  Organizations like the The Cornucopia Institute are stating that Dean Foods are using conventional soy beans from China, not disclosing important information and are purposely trying to confuse consumers.  Something to consider.

For those of you with snow...hope you are having fun too!

Doughnuts....Just another reason!

I remember fondly back in college heading to Krispy Kreme for a late night study break. Seeing the "Hot and Now" sign lit up was a real treat. My friends and I would easily consume a dozen doughnuts before we even got back to our dorm room. After I got married, there were many Saturday morning trips to Krispy Kreme to celebrate the start of a weekend. That tradition continued until we moved to our current house only to find that there was not a Krispy Kreme within a 20 mile radius. Instead everyone talked about Dunkin' Doughnuts (I never could understand preferring DD over KK). It's just as well anyway, now that I'm "older", consuming 12 grams of fat in one glazed doughnut is not nearly as appealing.

Not thinking that doughnuts would be one of those items that she shouldn't have, Abigail has had both brands, usually as a special treat. In doing research though, both warn of the risk of peanut cross-contamination. Dunkin' Doughnuts warns of it right on the front page of their Nutritional Link..."Please be advised that any of our products may contain allergens, including peanuts. Please see nutrition details for specific products for allergen information."  I had to e-mail Krispy Kreme for their information.  Here's their response:  

We often receive questions from consumers like you about the likelihood of peanuts in our doughnuts. We recognize how serious peanut allergies can be, and are unable to make a "nut-free" claim for any of our locations or products. Let us give you a little background into why. While we currently do not knowingly add any peanuts or other nut derivatives to our doughnuts, we do purchase from some suppliers who do have products that are not nut-free. In addition, we are in the process of testing an ice cream concept in several stores throughout the country in which nuts may be selected as a topping. The final decision to consume Krispy Kreme doughnuts will always rest with the consumer. 

I've started a list.  Here's one more reason to make the 2 1/2 hour drive to Duke. She'll be able to make her own late night visits to Krispy Kreme!

Duke Clinical Trial Update

I haven't written about our visits to Duke in a while simply because we haven't gone in a while.  Our last visit was the first week of December, and we don't go back until the second week in February.  Abigail is on the maintenance dose which means we no longer have to go every other week to increase her dose.  We go back in February for blood work, in April to discuss her pending food challenge and the end of May for her food challenge.

Speaking of food challenges, they've started for this study.  The first food challenge occurs 12 months after entering the study.  It's double blinded so that each child will get both a round of peanut flour and oat flour. They do that because nausea and vomiting can be a side effect of both a peanut reaction and pure anxiety. When I talked with our doctor late last week, 6 children had already completed their food challenge, and another 2 were schedule for each week over the course of the next couple of months. 

The first 3 kids to do their food challenge ended up being on the placebo, and will have to re-enter the study.  They're guaranteed to get the peanut protein this time around. There were mixed results on the other 3 that were getting the peanut protein. They didn't see particularly good results on the first two children, and it sounded like there were some extenuating circumstances for both.  However, the third child tolerated the full dose of peanut flour. Did I mention that it was the equivalent of 8 1/2 peanuts??  I know it's just one child, but I couldn't help getting very excited when I heard the news. Only time will tell, but it is very encouraging and makes our food challenge something to look forward to as opposed to dreading!

It's believed that just a small amount of daily peanut protein, over time, will re-train the immune system to accept the offending allergen as normal.  What Abigail's doctor explained was that the immune system is very slow to respond.  A year may not be long enough to re-train the immune system.  So, the results of the first food challenge aren't necessary indicative of the final outcome.  Between me and you though, I'll take 8 1/2 peanuts all day long!!

Congratulations Again!

I put off announcing another winner one more day to make sure I gave Christine R. lots of time to get in touch with me.  Christine, I'm so sorry, but I've got to pick another winner!  It's been 3 days.

I gave Abigail the honor of picking our new winner.  She loved it!  I made her close her eyes, mix up all the numbered slips and pick one out.  It was a very high tech process!

Congratulations to our new winner, Ginny B. (13).  I have your contact information so I'll make arrangements for Cookware.com to ship you your new blender.  I hope it's as cool as it looks!

One more thanks to everyone that participated and to Cookware.com for sponsoring this give-away!

Healthy Change #9: Know your Plastics

Late last week, the FDA revised their opinion on the safety of BPA (Bisphenol A), a chemical component in plastic products that leaches into food and beverages, even cold ones.  In 2008, the FDA stated that they thought BPA was safe.  Regardless, many parents had long since decided to listen to the many researchers who were claiming that BPA was linked to cancer, heart disease, Type-II diabetes, obesity, sexual dysfunction and early-onset puberty.  This is very evident in the influx of new products advertising BPA-free.  Three years ago, after reading about the risks of plastic baby bottles, I had to special order BPA-free bottles for my youngest child.  Now BPA-free bottles and feeding utensils are on every shelf in every store.

Finally, the FDA looks to be getting up to speed.  They've revised their position and are "now concerned" about the chemical.  According to USA Today, however, they neither called for a ban on the chemical or called for a change in consumer purchasing behavior. They are though investing $30 million in BPA research with results expected in 2 years.  In the meantime, parents must continue to make their own decisions on the safety of this chemical.

The 3 plastics to avoid are PVC, polystyrene, and hard polycarbonates.  Can't tell?  Look for these recycling symbols on the bottom of the object.  They're typically found on clear food packaging, disposable plates and cups, meat trays, take-out trays, baby bottles and many drinking containers.  Each of these plastics have shown to leach BPA.  The website, thedailygreen.com, has a really good article on the recycling symbols on plastics, what they all mean and the benefits/risks of each.

Another source of BPA is that white lining inside cans.  Tomato base foods (higher acidic) tend to have the highest leach levels, beverage cans appear to have the least.  There's irony in the fact that my "organic" diced tomatoes are in lined cans.

Liquid infant formula is of particular concern.  Infants and pregnant women are most thought to be at risk of side-effects of leaching BPA.  According to another article in USA Today, "All U.S. manufacturers use BPA-based lining on the metal portions of the formula containers. Tests of liquid formulas by FDA and EWG show that BPA leaches into the formula from all brands tested. Enfamil formula appears to have the highest concentrations of the 20 tests."

A couple of other suggestions:  Watch out for that plastic lined coffee tumbler. Look for stainless steel that is not lined with any type of plastic.  Look at the bottom of your plastic drinkware and your children's dishes and check the symbols.  Also, watch your microwave bowls.  Make sure they don't have the improper recycling symbol.  In fact, switch to glass bowls whenever possible when heating foods in the microwave.

The USA Today article states that according to the CDC, more than 90% of Americans have traces of BPA in their urine.  That's reassuring isn't it?

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Christine R. (Entry #6) who commented on January 12th!  You won my first ever product give-away...a multi-purpose blender valued at almost $50.00!  I hope you're reading.  I need you to get back with me via e-mail by tomorrow evening, Friday, January 22nd.

If I don't hear from Christine, then I'll randomly select another number.  If you entered and didn't win, please check back again on Saturday morning to see if Christine claimed her new blender. 

Thanks to all of you guys that entered!  I appreciate each of you taking a minute to leave a comment.  I got a bunch of great ideas.  Julie, I want to hear how you make blender yeast rolls.  And, Mishi, I'm definitely going to try your "banana un-nut fake-out ice cream".  Thanks for leaving the recipe.  We too use a ton of sunflower butter!

I'd also like to thank Cookware.com.  They really do have a lot very nice products.  I hope they'll considering sponsoring another give-away sometime soon!

Is it really a peanut allergy?

I'm deviating from my Healthy Change posts to write about a study that was just published regarding the "over-diagnosis" of peanut allergies.  Researchers in Manchester, England are claiming that a large percentage of people diagnosed with a peanut allergy may not be at risk at all.

You can read the whole article on WebMd, but here's the jist.  The University Hospital South Manchester fed 993 eight year old, peanut allergic children a special brownie spiked with a peanut protein.  They then gave these children a blood test, presumably a new one, that looks for a reaction to a specific part of the peanut which triggers a serious allergic reaction. The difference between their blood test and a normal skin prick test is that the skin prick test looks for antibodies to more of the peanut as opposed to the part that triggers the serious allergic reaction.  These researchers believe that traditional skin prick test gives too many wrong diagnoses.

Out of these 993 children, 80% who were believed to have an allergy did not suffer any reaction after eating the peanut-laced brownies.  That's a huge percentage! Further though "the researchers admit the study only looked at a relatively small number of children, but say they have confirmed the presence of peanut allergy is substantially lower than peanut sensitisation. They write that accurate testing is needed to allow anxious parents to find out whether a child will react to peanuts."

I'm not sure how I feel about this study!  I do agree that better testing is needed, and I wonder how many children are assigned the label "peanut allergic" without complete testing, i.e., blood test, skin test and food challenge.  Unfortantely, I know that Abigail is allergic and isn't just sensitive.  She had a mild reaction from ingestion before she was 2 years old.  We then had her blood tested, and her IgE numbers confirmed the allergy.  Because she had a reaction, she didn't have a skin test until 5 years later when we started the trial at Duke.  It did also end up being positive. Incidently, part of the criteria for being part of a clinical trial is that a child or adult must have had an actual reaction, and now, each participant is food challenged at the start of every study.

Because no one knows the type of reaction they're going to have at any given time if exposed to peanuts, I still see that peanut allergic individuals have no choice but to continue a strict avoidance.  I would hope that no one would assume they were just sensitive to peanuts and not allergic until a test confirmed as much.  I am intrigued though and look forward to seeing more results of this study.  I'll be asking our doctor at Duke questions about this study next time we're there.

I'm also a tad bit anxious when a study like this is published.  There is a large population that think we are making too big a deal of peanut allergies especially if it means they are inconvenienced.  These type of studies just add fuel to the fire, and are quite frustrating.  This one tells us that there is a chance that our children, or even ourselves, might just be sensitive, but it doesn't give us the means to find out. So, in the meantime, we have to continue to live by what we are told, and in many cases, what we've experienced.  Right now, we know that there is a risk of possible death if a peanut allergic person ingests a peanut product.  Until more is learned, that has to be our driving force!