I had a friend who had an anaphylactic reaction to MRI dye last Monday.  In for an MRI to determine answers for a health issue, she had never before had an anaphylactic reaction to anything and had no food allergies.  Her only previous reaction to anything was a very swollen leg last year after a bee sting.

The scary part to me is what happened when she told the technician she was feeling funny and hit the panic button.  To be fair, MRIs and CAT scans are rather tight spaces and more than one patient has been known to have panic attacks so this was how she was initially treated.  A doctor was called in who took her vitals which appeared to be fine so she was led through breathing exercises to “calm down”.  When she began to have difficulty talking due to a swelling throat and tongue, they then noticed that her back was covered in hives.  This is when she asked, “Can’t you give me something to stop this?” Read more »

Time flies when you’re having fun.  I can’t believe that 5 years have passed since I began making Nonuttin’ granola bars in my commercial kitchen located in my home.  Between batches, I’d be making phone calls, delivering orders to local stores, building our website and eventually, sending orders out by courier.  Originally, we didn’t even have an online shopping cart because I hadn’t envisioned selling granola bars online, only to stores.  But customers requested easy access so I built it. Those of you who have been with us since the beginning probably remember having to phone in your order and I was the only one on the other end of the line.

We’ve been through many ups and downs as many of you can attest to and there have been times that I wasn’t sure that we’d make it, often due to circumstances beyond our control.  And while my husband still has another job, we’re very positive about the future of Nonuttin’ Foods.  One day, I hope to have him working beside me, adding his passion to making our company better and better.

One of my employees who just joined us last September remarked the other day that she couldn’t have kept going for as long as I have with the dedication required.  Both she and another employee agreed that I was very stubborn.  I’m not disagreeing, just that I’d use a different word because the word stubborn indicates an unwillingness to yield, even when the facts suggest otherwise.  Tenacity on the other hand, is defined by persistent determination, even when the odds might be against us.

We’ve been out of that first commercial kitchen for a long time and are again bursting at the seams, ready to grow into our next space.  Where will the future lead us?  I don’t know for sure but I’m willing to use that determination to get me up the next mountain to make Nonuttin’ the company I originally envisoned it to be:  the leader in providing delicious foods for those with special dietary needs.  I’d love to have you accompany me on the journey.

When I was younger, I had a friend with a shrimp allergy who seemed determined to overcome his food allergies by sheer willpower.  I’m sure you’ve heard of allergic people like this, perhaps you’re one of them.  These are the people who know they have a food allergy but  disregard food labels and maybe even actively try to prove they’re no longer allergic to the food they reacted to as a child.  In any case, my friend stopped his antics after purposefully ingesting shrimp on New Year’s Eve and ended up in the hospital.  This was around the time when everyone in our social group refused to eat with him any longer.  None of us wanted responsibility for his playing Food Allergy Roulette.

I’m sure many of you are thinking this young man was foolish and I don’t disagree with you.  But if you are thinking that he is rare, think again.  Governments everywhere around the world are reviewing food allergy statements on ingredient labels after alarming studies showing that many of the food allergic ignore those warning statements.  These are the manufacturer’s voluntary “may contains…” that we see on pretty much every food label, ours included.

A recent UK survey indicates that only around 50% of British parents that shop for their nut allergic child heed the precautionary ”may contain traces of nuts”  warnings on food labels. 20% of those same parents ignore the “may contain nuts” warning on food.  Yet studies conducted a few years ago indicated that roughly one third of chocolates labeled with the “may contain traces of nuts” statement actually contained measurable amounts of nut proteins.

It may be that the majority of foods labeled with precautionary warnings don’t have the protein in them but many do.  Or what seemed fine last time may not be fine this time.  Is it worth the chance?

Like the economy and the swine flu, allergy and Celiac news seems to have a certain pattern.  Doom, gloom, and then a light at the end of the tunnel.  Recent news from the specialty diet world is no exception.  But, like life, sometimes it takes the doom and gloom to truly appreciate that light so here are a few highlights from various places around the globe:

Allergy Mom’s Newsletter:  Gina Clowes is the mom of a multiple food allergic child and a tireless advocate for special diet families.  Her most recent newsletter was disturbing because it features an interview with a parent who lost a child last year to a peanut allergy.  What was very enlightening was that this parent mentions that his family had come to expect a certain kind of reaction from their teen and were completely caught off guard when this life-ending reaction occurred.  It’s also a wake-up call to remind all food allergic parents that a “mild” allergy is not always predictable.  Our family had quite a discussion around this terrible tragedy.  You can read Gina’s interview with the father on the Allergy Mom’s April 25 Newsletter.

Recently Anaphylaxis Canada has asked for those living in British Columbia to respond to proposed changes to the BC medical act that would allow naturopaths to treat allergic patients as part of their scope of practice.  Anaphylaxis Canada’s concerns are that  food allergic individuals (as opposed to intolerances) should be treated in a medical setting where intervention would be possible in the case of an anaphylactic reaction to treatment.  That position bears thought when hearing about a recent Dublin inquest where a man died from peanut allergy while being treated with alternative methods.

Did you know that this week is National Food Allergy Awareness Week in the United States and last week was National Food Allergy Awareness Week in Canada?  To learn more about increasing awareness any week of the year, please visit the FAAN website (Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network) in the US and Anaphylaxis Canada’s website in Canada.

Nonuttin’ Foods began providing GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) free products 2 years ago because there have been questions raised as to whether genetically engineered food could be having an effect on the rising rates of food allergies.  Since there have been no specific studies to date really delving into that question, we prefer to avoid genetically manipulated foods and advocate labeling (not currently required in North America) to allow the customer a choice.  Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that they have provided a research grant to the Mount Sinai School of Medicine to investigate that question.  It may take many years to have the question answered but at least it is a start.

Did you know that there is a correlation between rising food allergy rates and the rising rates of childhood obesity?  A new study looks at the possibility that one is affecting the other.

Peanut allergy gets a lot of media attention often because of its severity and in recent years, the amount of well known food processors that have begun labeling their products as peanut free (Mars, Nestle, Christie to name a few in Canada).   However, as reported in the UK recently, fruit and vegetable allergies, particularly Oral Allergy Syndrome, is gaining ground on the peanut and may be considered the epidemic of the food allergy world for the new century.

And finally, (are you getting tired of all of this news yet?) it looks like pure oats will finally be allowed gluten free certification in Canada.   For any of you who have tried to decipher exactly why you don’t see “gluten free” on our Canadian labels and website while we can on our US information, the confusion may finally be coming to an end.  Essentially, Health Canada’s position is that pure oats are a suitable addition to most gluten free diets and may help add some needed fiber and nutrition to the Celiac diet within reason (i.e. 10 bowls of pure oats a day is too much of a good thing – for anybody!).  But that doesn’t mean we’re allowed to put “gluten free” on our granola labels in Canada because oats aren’t allowed to be called gluten free, also according to Health Canada.  However, the Canadian Celiac Association is expected to roll out a new pure oats certification program at their annual conference in Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario on May 31 which may change all of that.  I’ll be there with bells on!

I’m on a lot of different news lists and have been absolutely inundated over the last 10 days or so with research, interviews and more coming from the allergy world.   Here are some links that may be of interest to you:

Black male children have a 4 times greater possibility of developing food allergies:  http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2009/03/18/2009-03-18_black_male_children_are_four_times_more_.html

Parents of Australian food allergic children found to lack food allergy awareness in a recent study:   http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-03/ra-cpl031609.php

Kids found to be misdiagnosed with food allergies on a regular basis and that skin and blood tests aren’t reliable on their own:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101944263