Food Allergy Living Blog Tagged Results

This weekend, March 18 – 22, we will be joining the best and brightest allergy and immunology experts at the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) annual meeting in San Francisco, California.

AAAAI was established in 1943 and is the largest professional allergy and immunology medical organization in the United States. With nearly 6,500 members, AAAAI is made up of asthma specialists, clinical immunologists, allied health professionals and many others, all of who have a special interest in researching and treating allergic diseases.

Presenting new advancements and findings for allergy, asthma and immunology patients is the main goal of AAAAI and the annual meeting and we are looking forward to learning from the presentations at the conference. Some of the food allergy-related topics this year include:

• The Food Allergy Guidelines: From Controversy to Consensus
• What is New in Pediatric Allergy
• Activation of the Innate Immune System by Allergens: How Allergic Reactions get Started
• Living with Risk: Quality of Life for Families with Food Allergies

We’ll be sure to keep you posted on all of the fun and exciting things we hope to learn this weekend!

- Sarah

A few months ago, my colleague wrote an a entry on a New York Time’s article that touted an increase in the misdiagnosis of food allergies. A similar study was presented this weekend at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology’s (AAAAI) annual meeting.

According to the study by David Fleischer, M.D. of National Jewish Health in Denver, common blood tests for food-specific serum IgE’s are often wrong and aren’t a good basis for restricting children’s diets. The study included supervising oral food challenges — in which children observed by professionals are fed increasing amounts of suspect foods over time to gauge their reactions. The study showed that 50 percent of the kids tested could tolerate foods they had been told to avoid.

To read more about the study, click here.

And if you have any questions, send them my way!

- Christine

Rob wrote a great blog post last week about some of the great blogs out there covering food allergies.  This week, I thought I would highlight some Facebook pages related to food allergies that you can connect with for helpful information.

• American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology: Come here for updates about the latest research in allergy/immunology, access to educational tools and publications, and to share your thoughts about current issues in allergy and asthma.
• APFED - The American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders: APFED's Facebook page has an active wall where parents of children with eosinophilic disorders often post for support.  You can also find updates about new research and relevant events.
• The CURED Foundation: This non-profit foundation is dedicated to those suffering from eosinophilic disorders.  Their Facebook page offers information on how to get involved and answers questions from parents about their children's conditions.
• Food Allergy Initiative: FAI is another good resource for up to date allergy news and ways to get involved with fundraising.
• Kids with Food Allergies Foundation: This page has an active wall where parents share their food allergy stories. KWFA provides the latest news on food allergy research and events.
• The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN): The official FAAN Facebook page provides allergy news, updates on their walks, conferences and summer camps, as well as helpful tips posted by members.

Don't forget you can also become a fan of the Neocate Facebook page - we have a great community of parents who share their food allergy stories and offer support for others!  You can ask questions and find the latest news about Neocate and allergies.

Are there any other food allergy-related Facebook pages that we missed?  Be sure to share them in the comments!

- Sarah

Last week, the Neocate team had the pleasure of exhibiting atthe American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) annual conference in Orlando, Florida.  This year’s conference had more than 5000 allergists and healthcare professionals from around the world covering topics from T Cell regulation to Eosinophilic Esophagitis.

More than 300 healthcare professionals (HCPs) visited our stand during the show to learn more about Nutriciaand to try samples of the new Neocate Junior with Prebiotics, Vanilla.  Also, for the first time we introduced our new range of services offered to the families that use our products.  The new range of services includes:

1. Our Nutricia Product Coverage Navigator – a service to help residents of Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Texas gain reimbursement coverage of Nutricia products.

2. Our Nutritional Specialist helpline manned by professional experts to help both parents and healthcare professionals use and understand all of our products.

3. Our new and improved website Neocate.com with many new services for parents including our online diary and symptom checker.

4. Our Neocate online store where we offer customers the cheapest prices.

5. Our new Nutricia Learning Center (NLC), which provides new and specialized education for HCP’s to help understand the complexity of the many issues that a cow’s milk allergy can cause.

Here at Nutricia we really believe in educating all of our HCP’s about the services we offer so they can pass that information onto our Neocate families.

We wanted to say a special thanks to the HCP’s that visited our stand and AAAAI for a very busy but very rewarding weekend in Orlando!