Children experiencing ‘bizarre’ reactions to exotic food
Professor Jonathan Hourihane, head of paediatrics and child health at Cork University Hospital (CUH), said some exotic foods like kiwi or peanuts had become common foods for young children and doctors were seeing allergic reactions to them.
It is also thought that the increase in children’s allergies may be linked with foods being introduced at an early age.
In a submission to the House of Lords Science and Technology Subcommittee on Allergy this week, Prof Hourihane said food allergies had to be taken seriously because severe reactions could kill.
The professor also told peers that common treatments were very outdated and put sufferers at risk of side effects. And while there were modern safe treatments that were more effective, they were not widely available.
Prof Hourihane said nobody really knew the reason for the significant increase in allergies but it did appear to be more of a problem in developed countries than in developing countries, so it was possibly due to people’s lifestyle.
“Changing weaning practices and the impression that organic or exotic fresh food is better for children than traditional staple foods may be linked to the appearance of allergies to foods that would have appeared bizarre to previous generations,” he said.
Ireland and Britain already had highly allergic populations so it was likely that some children would become allergic to unusual foods, he said.
The most prevalent food allergies are milk and eggs.
While most allergies go away when a child gets older, they should not be ignored.
Any parent who suspects their child might have an allergy or intolerance should seek help from a GP who may refer the child to a specialist immunologist.
Prof Hourihane said parents should be feeding their children normal foods like wheat, meat, potatoes and fish.
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