Cool sites
CMAJ 1998;159:913
© 1998 Canadian Medical Association
Most physicians have patients with food allergies, real or imagined, and this is a good site to which to refer them; you may even learn something yourself. The Food Allergy Network promotes itself as a nonprofit organization established to help families living with food allergies and to increase public awareness about these allergies and anaphylaxis. Its Web site (www.foodallergy.org) is designed to educate and help people cope with their allergies. From it I learned that 90% of food allergies are caused by 8 foods — milk, eggs, wheat, peanuts, soy, tree nuts, fish and shellfish. The site also states that although some people believe up to 25% of adults have food allergies, the real incidence is closer to 1% to 2%. The site has answers to FAQs, such as the difference between wheat allergy and celiac disease. A research section had a report from the New England Journal of Medicine that describes a patient who had experienced an allergic reaction to peanut after receiving a liver-kidney transplant from a donor who was allergic to peanuts. A Product Alert section had information on the status of EpiPens, which were recently subject to a recall, and there's a toll-free number for ordering milk-free Hershey chocolate bars. Finally, many links are listed to other sites that deal with the problem of food allergies. This site can be a valuable resource for patients who are learning to live with their disorder. Heck, I may even order that Hershey bar. I just hope it tastes better than the gluten-free bread I tried. — Dr. Robert Patterson, robpatterson@email.msn.com
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