Dr. Robert Wood

Food Allergies For Dummies


Food Allergies Home


Articles

  • Peanut Allergy Cure?
  • Food Allergies: Nothing to Joke About
  • Probiotics in the Prevention and Treatment of Food Allergies
  • Household Cleaners Clarification
  • Food Allergens in Non-Food Items
  • Taking Food Allergies Back to School
  • Assessing the Risks of Allergens in Schools
  • 504 Plan for Food Allergies
  • Debunking Alternative Food Allergy Tests and Therapies
  • Testing for Food Allergies
  • My Food Allergy Reactions
  • Assessing the Real Risk of Airborne Peanut
  • Busting Common Food Allergy Myths
  • Beware of False Positives
  • Will I Ever Outgrow My Food Allergy?
  • Have You Outgrown Your Food Allergy?
  • The Risks of Eating Out
  • Food Allergy Epidemic?
  • Food Allergy Blamed for Death at Dinner
  • Does Breastfeeding Prevent Food Allergies?
  • Choosing a Food Allergy-Friendly Camp
  • Check Your Epinephrine Autoinjectors
  • Diagnosing and Treating Celiac Disease

Will I ever outgrow my food allergy?

I can't estimate your odds of outgrowing a food allergy. It depends on what you're allergic to, how you're wired internally, and how old you are. For example, children are more likely to outgrow food allergies than are adults who develop their allergies later in life. Children are also much more likely to outgrow a milk or egg allergy than they are to outgrow a peanut allergy.

In Food Allergies For Dummies, I have an entire chapter on preventing the onset of food allergies and offer some practical suggestions on how to possibly increase your chances of outgrowing a food allergy.

Caution: To determine whether you've outgrown a food allergy, your doctor may recommend a food challenge--trying a small amount of the food that commonly triggers your reactions. Never attempt a food challenge on your own. Food challenges should be performed under the supervision of a qualified allergist who has emergency medications and equipment on hand to treat a severe reaction should one occur.

See "Have Your Outgrown Your Food Allergy?" for details on how your doctor may test to determine whether you've lost your sensitivity to a particular food.

© Copyright 2009 Dr. Robert A. Wood, MD & Joe Kraynak, All Rights Reserved