Food Allergy Associated With Asthma in Children | Asthma Food Allergies

If you suspect that certain foods trigger wheezing or asthma symptoms in your child, your first action should be a consultation with your pediatrician to determine the exact inventory of foods your child is allergies to. The doctor will probably refer you to a pediatric allergist, or may carry out the tests him-or herself to identify your child’s reactive foods. It is essential that once you know your child’s food allergens, you remove all sources of them from his or her diet, and provide alternative foods with equal nutritive value to ensure that your child receives complete and balanced nutrition for optimum growth and development.

Food allergy contributes to asthma food allergies only in limited cases. Because there are so many other asthma triggers that contribute to the condition—inhaled dust mites, mold spores, animal dander, pollens, and so on—it is very unlikely that removing the allergenic foods will allow you to completely control your child’s asthma. It is most probable that food allergy is making your child’s asthma worse rather than being solely responsible for triggering its symptoms. The role of food allergy as aggravator, not the sole cause of asthma increases as children grow older.

Nevertheless, it is possible to gain some idea of whether and which foods are triggering wheezing and asthma by carrying out a food challenge. Introduce suspect foods individually and monitor the child’s symptoms, following a period of having avoided the suspect food. Food challenge procedures should be conducted under the supervision of a physician because the symptoms—if and when they are triggered—must be controlled with appropriate medication. Changes in airway response during food challenge can be measured in older children with a peak flow meter (or by using an instrument called a spirometerc). The physician will rely on symptoms alone to monitor infants’ pulmonary function during food challenge.

The food allergy associated with asthma in childhood is no different from the food allergy that causes other symptoms. The offending foods must be avoided as long as the child presents symptoms after eating the foods. Parents and caregivers must become familiar with terms printed on product labels, and with the entire range of food products in which the allergen may be present as a minor, or even hidden, ingredient.