Food fright

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The first time Lisa Cole of Centreville gave baby biscuits to her daughter, Madeline, it took five minutes before the baby started screaming.

Mrs. Cole and her husband, Femi, rushed Madeline, then 9 months old, to the emergency room and, after consulting an allergist, discovered the problem: The baby was allergic to the wheat, eggs and milk in the biscuits. Additional testing showed the list of allergens for Madeline included 10 foods. Corn, tomatoes, beef, pork and blueberries give her hives, but eggs, milk, wheat, barley and peanuts cause her to go into anaphylactic shock: Her face and throat swell, and her blood pressure drops.

"It is fatal unless you use the EpiPen," Mrs. Cole says about the shot of epinephrine she has on hand to stop symptoms of allergic reaction. "Until it hit home with me, I had no idea of the severity and risk of fatality involved. It's startling when you first learn about it."

The Coles limit Madeline's interactions with other children and call ahead before they visit anyone. Mrs. Cole cannot return to work because she and her husband can't find a day care facility that will guarantee the safety of their daughter, who now is 20 months old.

"It's really stressful," Mrs. Cole says. "You have to make the impression on people that it is serious. ... I can't take the risk she is going to pick up or share a cracker."

Madeline is one of 6 million to 7 million Americans suffering from food allergies, or about 2 percent to 2.5 percent of the population, according to the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network, a Fairfax-based nonprofit organization that provides educational materials, advocacy and research.

Food allergies occur when the immune system reacts to the protein in food as if it were a threatening foreign substance. Each time the food is eaten, the immune system releases antibodies and histamines that trigger allergic reactions. The reactions affect the respiratory system, cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal tract and the skin but do not get more severe with each exposure to the food. Instead, the amount of food eaten and how allergic someone is to that food determines the severity of the reaction.

Anne Munoz-Furlong, founder and chief executive of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network, says the most common allergy symptoms include hives, swelling, itching, difficulty breathing, abdominal cramping, vomiting and diarrhea, which typically occur from seconds up to two hours after food is ingested.