Open AccessAdvisory warning labels: what do dietitians advise parents of food‐allergic children?
Author(s) -
Turner P,
Fox A
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
clinical and translational allergy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.979
H-Index - 37
ISSN - 2045-7022
DOI - 10.1186/2045-7022-3-s3-p127
Subject(s) - medicine , food allergy , warning signs , family medicine , alternative medicine , food hypersensitivity , allergy , immunology , pathology , transport engineering , engineering
Results 61 dietitians participated in the survey, 26% specialised in allergy management, 57% in paediatrics. 70% had been qualified for 5+ years. 38% mandated complete avoidance of foods labelled “may contain... nuts” (but with no nut listed in the ingredients) in nut-allergic individuals. 36% recommended avoidance of only specific foods (such as confectionery) while 12% advised that avoidance of foods with AWLs was not required so long as the child was free of intercurrent infection and/or other factors e.g. absence of recent exercise. Factors which resulted in more stringent avoidance being recommended included: asthma (56% recommending complete avoidance, p 0.05). Where a nut-allergic child without a history of anaphylaxis was able to tolerate peanut, fewer dietitians recommended complete avoidance (20% vs 38%, p<0.05). Advice did not vary significantly where the allergen in question was egg rather than a nut. Tolerance of baked egg (e.g. in a cake) did not affect the advice given. However, where there was a history of anaphylaxis to raw egg but tolerance to egg in baked foods, more dietitians advised avoidance of foods with an AWL to egg (43% vs 26%, p<0.05).