Food Allergy is increasing 1 in 10 preschool children have a food allergy. Peanut allergy has doubled over the past 5 years. Today, more than 3% of Australian children will be allergic to peanuts and close to 4% to tree nuts.
- Hives
- Angioedema
- Hoarse voice
- Abdominal pain
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- collapse
Food allergy vs intolerances and sensitivities are complex and difficult to diagnose as they may present similary.
igE mediated food allergies are most commonly caused by 9 foods:
- cow’s milk,
- egg,
- peanut,
- tree nuts,
- wheat,
- soy,
- sesame,
- fish,
- shellfish.
Medically Supervised Oral Food Challenge tests are not performed at our facility. They involve the ingestion of a small amount of allergen under medical supervision to assess if a person has outgrown their allergies. We can refer you to our Immunologist partners or local hospital for this test.
Firstly by seeing one of our trained Doctors we can determine whether food allergy testing is suitable to determine if your symptoms are due to a food allergy.
We can help you determine what tests may be needed for your food-related symptoms.
Not all patients with gut related symptoms require food allergy testing.
Some patients may require elimination diets or be better off with structural or functional gut testing.
If food allergy is diagnosed we can assess severity and can consider how other specialists such as immunologists, gastroenterologists and pediatrics or allied health such as dieticians or naturopaths that may be needed in your treatment plan.
Some adults and children with food allergies will require adrenaline autoinjectors and Allergy or Anaphylaxis Action Plans.
Some children with multiple allergies may also need to be flagged for close monitoring of their weight, nutrition and other allergic disease.
Children will need to be referred to our partner immunologists for any oral food challenges to confirm they have outgrown their food allergies before they restart eating that food safely.