Genetically Modified Foods and the Link to Allergies - Part 1

There are not many subjects that get me as worked up as the subject of genetically modified food.  The fact that one company has decided that their bottom line is more important than the health of the world's people and the future of our country and that a handful of U.S. governmental agencies have decided that it's more important to protect that business than to prevent their constituents from becoming human guinea pigs absolutely infuriates me.  Not only are we all at risk of damaged immune systems and digestive systems, infertility and increased risks of cancer, to name a few, but GM foods might actually also be the cause of the food allergy epidemic.  And, our beloved children face the greatest risk of all.

It all started in the 1990's when Monsanto determined a way to boost the sale of their product, RoundUp.  By gene-splicing corn, soy, cotton and canola with foreign DNA, Monsanto scientist were able to create a plant that could survive massive doses of RoundUp allowing farmers to repeatedly spray their crops.  Now,
 75 million acres, or 85%, of U.S. corn production is GM, 72 million acres or 91% of U.S. soy is GM, 8.8 million acres or 88% of U.S. cotton is GM, 3.2 million acres or 85% of U.S. Canola is GM and 1.2 million acres or 95% of U.S. sugar beets is GM.  Eighty percent of these crops get converted to animal feed and end up in our beef, dairy and eggs.  The other 20% ends up on our grocery stores shelves in the form of non-organic processed foods.  Just reading these facts on the Organic Consumer Association's "Millions Against Monsanto" link makes me nauseous.  The reach of GM food and the resulting damage is far too extensive to cover in a couple of posts.

Why do we stand for it?  Only a fourth of all Americans even realize that we are eating this toxic food.  There's no labeling laws requiring GM foods to be identified.  If that was the case, over 80% of the foods found on our store shelves would have to have a warning label

Avoiding it takes knowledge and time, at least in the beginning.  I've heard from family and friends that have decided after reading my blog to take the challenge to make shopping changes in order to avoid foods made with GM ingredients.  I think the goal to completely avoid GM food is next to impossible to achieve.  For our family, I try to just minimize how much we eat.  I will say that now that I know the health risks, I find it extremely difficult to put an item I know to contain GM ingredients in my grocery cart.  I'd rather do without.

I'm hoping that I've given you enough food for thought, no pun intended, to also consider making a New Year's Resolution to learn about the risks of GM food, what brands are the biggest users of GM ingredients and what steps you and your family can take to minimize the intake of GM food.  If I haven't, maybe this list published by the Institute of Responsible Technology giving 65 Health Risks of GM Foods will.  My personal goal for 2011 is to now tackle our restaurant exposure.

I still want to touch on why our kids are at biggest risk as well as cover the link between GM foods and allergies.  Those topics are too big to cover in this post so there's a Part 2 and Part 3 still to come.

Thanks for giving me a minute to get up on my soapbox!

A Great Find

I was recently doing a little shopping when I came across this cute cupcake container.  What a great find!  I just had to buy one for Abigail.

This CupCake To-Go container is absolutely perfect for a child with a food allergy, food intolerance or Celiac.  For 6 years now, I've sent cupcakes with Abigail to almost every peer birthday party she has attended.  Most of the time in containers either too small for the cupcake resulting in mushed frosty or too large also resulting in a rather messy cupcake from all that bouncing around.  Now, she can take her "special" cupcake and take pleasure in eating it because 1. it's no longer unsightly, and 2. it came out of such a adorable container. 

Abigail, of course, loved it.  I knew she would.  I went back to the store and bought more just in case you guys loved them and also wanted one too.  I bought them in 3 different colors: pink, white and blue. They're about 4" x 4", the perfect size to hold a large cupcake or even muffin.  The lid twists on/off and there are interior side anchors to keep the cupcake in place (assuming your child doesn't drop it and send it bouncing).  My resell price is $5.00, and I still have to figure out actual shipping cost.  If you want one, send me an e-mail at peanutallergyfree@gmail.com, and I'll let you know what that cost is once I've packed it in a shipping box.  I use PayPal for billing, and I don't ship outside the U.S.

This cupcake container just makes me happy.  It's so hard to see your child or loved one have to struggle with something like not being able to eat a piece of their friend's birthday cake.  It makes me happy because it's a simple object that makes a huge difference.  If you've got to be different and made to stand out in a crowd, you might as well do it with style!

A New Year's Thank You!

I hope everyone has enjoyed these last days of December and the many holiday events that fill the calendar this time of year.  I also hope that everyone has stayed safe and healthy.  Is it too much to also hope that everyone spent the holidays stress free and not in the least bit worried about the safety of their peanut allergic child?

I must admit that due to our participation in the peanut clinical trial at Duke, my worries have been a lot less than in previous years.  Knowing that Abigail is on the actual peanut protein drops and that she flew through the food challenge like a champ alleviates a great deal of the worry.  I was still diligent in checking ingredients, I still packed a few safe party food alternatives for those family gatherings, I still volunteered for her class Christmas party and even made sure I was the one signed up to bring the sugar cookies to decorate and I still had to comfort the disappointment when a few really scrumptious looking desserts had to be passed up on because of ingredients that might be subject to cross-contamination.  But, the worry of who was eating what where wasn't always in the back of my mind, and there were no hurt feelings when a hostess hadn't taken her allergy into consideration.

So, here on the last day of the year 2010, I wanted to take a minute and thank everyone at the Duke Clinical Research Unit that have made it possible for us to be on this journey.  Our family is so very grateful for this opportunity.  I also wanted to thank our family and friends that have supported us with many prayers, hours of childcare for our 3 year old and their overall interest in Abigail's progress.  Lastly, I wanted to thank you, my wonderful readers, that have been so generous in your comments, well wishes, blessings and e-mails.  I can't possibly explain how much this blog and your interest means to me.

Many Blessings for a Safe and Happy 2011,
Melanie
a.k.a. Mom with a Mission

Lots of Good Food!

I don't know about you, but I use the holidays to splurge and try new recipes that I wouldn't necessarily make throughout the rest of the year.  I've spent lots of time in the kitchen these last few weeks and have a few new favorite recipes that I wanted to share.

Hands down, my favorite new recipe was the Easy Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Dip that I made on a whim for Christmas Eve afternoon.  It's a Kraft Foods recipe, but I found some great, healthy substitutes for the brands they list in the recipe.  I could not stop eating it.  I had to make my husband put it away in order to stop.  I will definitely be making this again sometime soon.

Also, for the first time, I made cinnamon buns, the kind you roll out the homemade dough, spread with butter, cinnamon and brown sugar, then roll the dough to form a tube shape and slice.  We ate those topped with a powdered sugar drizzle on Christmas morning, the morning after Christmas, and the morning after that.  I think this was Abigail's favorite of the season.

I shared a favorite at a large family Christmas gathering.  I love this recipe because I can easily get my kids to eat not only sweet potatoes but butternut squash as well.  It's also extremely easy to make.  It's a Butternut-Sweet Potato Streusel (almost anything tastes good with a Streusel topping) that requires just the dish to bake it in and a small bowl to make the topping in.  Here's an online version of the recipe.  The topping was a little too sweet for us the first time I made it so I cut it in half and it's perfect.  And, of course, I didn't add the nuts.

Also, appropriately named, White Christmas Chili (we did have a white Christmas this year...the first in many, many years) was really tasty.  I tore this recipe out of a Southern Living Magazine years ago, 2002  according to the date in the margin, but never got around to trying it until this year.  I was able to find the recipe online so you can have a copy too.  I used 1 less can of chopped green chiles than the recipe called for thinking it would be too spicy for the kids, but next time I'll definitely use the 3rd can.  It needed just a little more heat...besides, the kids didn't eat it anyway.  They opted for chicken nuggets. Go figure.

Those were my favorite of the season.  I had several opportunities to open the jalapeno pepper jelly I made last month, and wasn't disappointed in my efforts.  I served it with cream cheese and crackers.  I'm also looking forward to next weekend when I can try a Mac and Cheese with Goat Cheese and Champagne recipe that I came across.  Just got to remember to save 1/2 cup of champagne from New Year's Eve to use.  I think it's going to be fabulous.  Afterall, it's got champagne, goat cheese, parmesan cheese, gruyer cheese and heavy cream in it.

I love the food this time of year.  Hope you too have had fun cooking and trying some new dishes.  Send me a link with your favorite recipe.  Now...time to hit the gym!

Christmas Greetings

From our house to yours...

Wishing you Peace & Joy this Holiday Season and 

many Blessings in the New Year!

Teenage Girl Dies of Anaphylaxis

Friday of last week a 7th grader with a peanut allergy died of anaphylaxis after eating Chinese food served at her class holiday party.  I wanted to provide the link to the article in the Chicago Tribune in case you wanted to read the full story.  It's really quite tragic, and I know the parents must be suffering.  Apparently, the restaurant had been contacted to determine if the food was safe.   Evidently, it wasn't, and if I've read the article correctly, the school was unable to inject the child with an EpiPen because there wasn't a health profile on file for her.

As usual, the Comments at the end of the article are infuriating and there appears to already be a lot of blame passing.  It's unfortunate that the food was unsafe, but downright horrible that the school could only call 911.  Parents, if you haven't taken the opportunity to go to the school and fill out all of the health forms for your food allergic child, please let this be a good reason.

I've been unsuccessful in linking the Peanut Allergy Action Plan that I give to all of Abigail's caregivers, but if you want to e-mail me at peanutallergyfree@gmail.com, I'll e-mail you a blank copy to complete.  Also, don't forget to arm the school with antihistamine tablets and EpiPens!

New Rules for Diagnosing Food Allergies

Last week, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases issued the first clinical guidelines for diagnosing and treating food allergies stating that blood or skin tests alon aren't sufficient when making a diagnosis.  The recommendation is that a combination approach should be taken including a detailed medical history review, and in some cases, an oral food challenge.

According to the WSJ articule, "the guidelines, published this week in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, are aimed at resolving wide discrepancies in diagnosing and treating food allergies among allergists, dermatologists, gastroenterologists, pulmonologists and emergency physicians, as well as pediatricians and internists. More than 30 professional organizations, federal agencies and patient groups were involved in the report, which was in the works for two years."

There has been a great deal of press lately on the topic of whether the many children diagnosed with food allergies over the last couple of years actually have a severe enough allergy to warrant completely removing all possibilities of contact.  In many cases patients or parents of patients have been told to eliminate multiple foods only to later do a food challenge and find the patient can tolerate all but one or two of those foods. These recommendations were based on the results of either or both the RAST blood test or the skin prick test.  According to experts, "having IgE antibodies to specific foods doesn't necessarily mean a person will have an allergic reaction when eating the foods. Skin-prick tests are more predictive, but they, too, measure IgE "sensitization," which may not result in an actual reaction. The report estimates that 50% to 90% of presumed allergies are not, in fact, allergies."  In fact, according to the WSJ, a study published online in the Journal of Pediatrics this fall reviewed 125 children evaluated for food allergies and eczema at National Jewish in 2007 and 2008.  They found that over 90% of the foods the children were avoiding were returned to their diets after food challenges.

Here is a great illustration of the new clinical guidelines for diagnosing food allergies as opposed to what has been happening.

Other significant guidelines from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases include:

• Introducing solid foods to infants should not be delayed beyond 4 to 6 months old.
• People with an egg allergy need not avoid the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. But they should avoid vaccines for influenza, yellow fever or rabies.
• Even those at high risk for food allergies, such as family members of those with allergies, may not need routine testing. One exception: siblings of children with severe peanut allergies. 

I'm hoping these guidelines have a very positive impact of the understanding of food allergies.  I simply couldn't imagine living the lifestyle that our family has lived now for seven years only to find out that our child didn't really have a severe enough food allergy to warrant all of the precautions that we've put into place.  What a cruel twist of fate that would be.  Also, maybe if there is less confusion within the allergy community, i.e., different recommendations from different doctors, different requirements for different allergy patients, etc.,  it will make it easier for the general population to better understand the implications of a true, life-threatening allergy, and have a better appreciation.. maybe even a little more tolerance for those with allergies.