Food Allergy Living Blog Tagged Results

As a follow up to our “Failure to Thrive: My child is underweight, what should I do?” blog, I would like to further explain the product Duocal. It may be a good option for a child with failure to thrive (or FTT) as well as other conditions such as multiple food protein intolerance and conditions related to food allergies such as Eosinophilic Esophagitis (or EE), Gastroesophageal reflux disease (or GERD), and Atopic Dermatitis (or AD).

Duocal is a high calorie, protein-free powdered nutritional supplement that can be added to foods or beverages when additional calories are needed to gain adequate weight. Keep in mind that Duocal is not a formula and should not be used as a sole source of nutrition.

Duocal is made up of carbohydrates and fats. It is flavorless and super soluble so there are no changes to the taste and/or texture of the food it is being added to (which also helps with diet compliance). The Duocal 400g can comes with a scoop which provides about 25 extra calories per scoop.

The reason Duocal is unique is the fact that it does not contain proteins. This is important for a child who needs extra calories due to FTT or weight loss secondary to severe food allergies (keep in mind; only proteins can cause an allergic reaction).

Duocal is 100% milk free and is made in a milk free environment to ensure tolerance. Duocal is for children ages 1 and over. The amount of Duocal you or your little one may need per day is to be determined by your doctor or dietitian. The amount of Duocal needed per day really depends on what the specific nutritional needs are for the patient. Duocal is for children ages one year and older, so it can be used throughout ones life stages.

Duocal can be mixed with a wide variety of foods. Here are some quick tips on how to use Duocal to get you started.

(These are approximations, please check with your doctor or dietitian for exact amounts) When using

Duocal for:

· Beverages: Add 2 scoops of Duocal per 4 fl oz.

· Toddler Foods: Add 2 scoops of Duocal per ¼ cup of food.

· Mashed potatoes: Add 3-4 scoops Duocal per ½ cup of mashed potatoes.

· Soups: Add ~6 scoops of Duocal for a 16 oz serving (or one can) of soup.

The MyDuocal.com site has a lot of helpful recipes and complete nutritional information to help you better understand how to incorporate Duocal into your child’s diet.

Have you tried Duocal before? What kind of recipes did you make with it? We are always excited to hear of new ways to use Duocal in helping patients thrive.

Christine

Happy Thanksgiving! This month, my colleagues Sarah, Mallory, Christine and I decided to do a series of “Why I’m Thankful” blogs. I hope my post finds you in good health and enjoying the long, holiday weekend!

To start off, I am thankful for my family and friends — without them I would not be the person I am today. They bring support, happiness and laughter into my life.

Like Mallory, I am also thankful for the improvements in science and how far we’ve come. When I was a little girl, I suffered from milk allergies and was very underweight. My family did everything they could to ensure I gained weight properly and I was able to thrive without milk in my diet. Still, it was quite a struggle, as I’m sure you know firsthand from your experiences with your little ones! Like so many allergy kids, as time passed I finally outgrew my allergies and eventually I even outgrew my nickname “Spaghetti Legs”. This came as a huge relief to both me (after years of being unable to do so, I could finally eat ice cream!) and my family.

Neocate formulas and Duocal would have been optimal for my growth; however, they were not available when I needed it. Both Neocate and Duocal provide families with options I did not have when growing up with a milk allergy and underweight. Families can rely on our hypoallergenic, amino acid-based formulas and not have to worry that their child isn’t getting the proper nutrition they need to grow properly. Although I wasn’t able to benefit from Neocate or EO28 Splash, I am so thankful the families I talk to everyday are able to feed their children these formulas which are able to alleviate some of the stress of parenting a child with food allergies.

Lastly, I’m thankful for you! Since starting here at Nutricia, I have learned more about your families, and been able to provide resources and assistance to make your lives easier. It has been a joy getting to know you and helping your little ones!

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

- Nita

You may have read Sarah’s “Why I’m Thankful” post last week. If you missed it, we are doing a series this month where we each share what we are thankful for in our own lives. This week is my turn!

I’m thankful to be living in a time with such advanced medical care. Every day I work with families of children whose lives depend on a special food or a special way of receiving nutrients. It scares me to wonder what happened to these children before we had such technology. Some of our Neocate users are allergic to just about everything. Before there were amino acid-based formulas, how could these children thrive or in some severe cases, even survive?

This issue also touches me on a personal level. My little sister, Caroline, has special needs and has depended on various products of technology throughout her life. When she was little, it was a struggle to get enough calories into her and she grew very weak, falling further and further off the growth charts. Her doctor prescribed Duocal, which allowed her to get enough calories to maintain weight and stay healthy. She now has a feeding tube due to dysphagia (swallowing problems) and she is doing great with it! The development of enteral nutrition has allowed children who can’t physically ingest food to get all the nutrients they need to survive and thrive - another great example of an obstacle that medical advancements have allowed us to overcome!

How have medical advancements/technology been a blessing to your family?

- Mallory

Hearing “failure to thrive” (FTT) from a doctor can be disheartening for parents. Unfortunately, when babies and children have food allergies, it can be hard to make sure they are getting all of the nutrients they need to grow. And I often get phone calls from confused parents who are not sure what they can give their child to ensure they get all the necessary nutrients when they are allergic to so many key foods.

Because of this, FTT, a term used to describe the children who have failed to develop and grow as expected, is a common, but extremely fixable, symptom of babies and children with food allergies.

For more information on FTT, click here.

Since FTT often occurs because a child is not receiving adequate calories, a high calorie supplement is needed. This is where Duocal, a high calorie, protein-free nutritional supplement that can be added to foods or beverages, comes in. This milk-free product is great for little ones who have milk protein allergies and are on specialized formulas. However, it can be given to children who are not taking formula as well and is perfect for those children who just require a little catch-up growth.

Do you want to know the best thing about Duocal? It’s an unflavored powder so you can add it to your child’s normal diet! That’s right busy moms — there isn’t any additional cooking on your end and you don’t have to worry about your child not liking it. You can just add it to whatever your child is eating.

If you feel like your child has been missing that one last piece of the nutritional puzzle, a supplement like Duocal, or a similar supplemental medical food, could be right for him or her. And remember, products like this should be taken under medical supervision. For complete information on Duocal, click here.

Do you have any questions about FTT or Duocal? Please send them my way!

- Christine

Over the past few weeks, we’ve provided you with tips for recycling or reusing your metal Neocate cans. But what about the accessories: the lids and the scoops?

In our recent recycling blog, we mentioned that the lids from Neocate (and Duocal!) cans can be recycled. This might vary, though, based on where you live. To be sure you can recycle the lids, check with your local municipality or curbside recycling pickup company. The key thing to look for is whether they accept number 4 plastics – the lids we use on our cans are number 4. As more localities continue to accept a bigger variety of plastics, we hope many of our customers can recycle their Neocate lids! You may also be able to find a nearby drop-off location by using the search feature on Earth911 with the term “#4 Rigid Plastic” and your city or zip code.

But what about the scoops that come with our products? Great news: if your municipality or recycling pickup company takes number 5 plastics, you can recycle the scoops as well! Number 5 plastics are also used in yogurt cups, other food tubs, plastic flower pots, and disposable razors. Even better news: for those customers who live in an area where number 5 products are not collected from the community, you have another option with Preserve®’s Gimme 5 program. You may be able to locate a local drop-off site where number 5 plastics are collected for Preserve. If that doesn’t work, Preserve will even accept number 5 plastics by mail and turn them into consumer products. Now THAT’S recycling!

Do you have any crafty ideas for reusing or repurposing the lids or scoops from your Nutricia products?

- Rob