If your child has peanut allergy, he/she may react to SOY, as well
Dear AllergyKids’ Friends,
Soy Induced Anaphylaxis in Children with Asthma and Peanut Allergy
As many of you know, soy is one of the top eight allergens. What you may not know is that a child with a peanut allergy can have an allergic reaction after eating a food that contains soy, according to the Asthma and Allergy Resource Center.
How could soy cause an allergic reaction in my child with peanut allergy?
In scientific terms, soybean allergens are “homologous” to known peanut allergens and can be recognized by 44% of peanut-allergic patients.
What that means is that a child with a peanut allergy can have an allergic reaction and even go into anaphylaxis after eating soy. Because this cross-reactivity is rarely mentioned in the press, many parents are unaware of the potential health risks that soy may present to children with peanut allergies.
What are the Signs of a Cross-Reaction to Soy?
According to Ingrid Yman, PhD of the Swedish National Food Administration, these deaths initially appear as an asthma attack, with no or very mild symptoms for the first 30-90 minutes after the consumption of food containing soy. Then, the children suffer fatal asthma attacks.
What Can I Do to Protect My Child with Peanut Allergy?
According to Dr. Yman, PhD of the Swedish National Food Administration, “If your child is allergic to peanuts, you should consider eliminating soy as well as all peanuts from your child’s diet, even if your child has never reacted poorly to soy in the past. Some sensitive children have “hidden” soy allergies that manifest for the first time with a severe – even fatal – reaction to even the low levels of “hidden” soy commonly found in processed food products. Those at the highest risk suffer from asthma as well as peanut allergy.”
The Swedish National Food Administration study analyzed severe food allergy reactions of children that died after consuming soy. These children had known allergies to peanuts but not to soy.
What products contain soy?
Soy can be found in soy milk, tofu, soy sauce, baby formula and other soy products.
Soy is also used in many processed foods, as soy lecithin, soy lectin, soybean oil and other soy derivatives.
Soy is commonly used as animal-feed in livestock.
It is only within the last nine years that soy has become one of the top eight allergens.
Soy has recently been genetically engineered to contain new proteins and potential allergens.
Are there other facts that I may not know about soy?
According to Daniel Sheehan, PhD and director of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) National Center for Toxicological Research, soy-fed babies are taking part in “a large, uncontrolled and basically unmonitored human infant experiment.”
The British Dietetic Association now warns parents to avoid soy formula given the results of a 2003 study conducted by Dr. Gideon Lack from St Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College, London, UK.
The French Food Agency will soon require warning labels on all soy foods, soy formulas and soy milk so that consumers will be aware of the risks that soy poses to children under the age of three, those with hypothyroidism, and women with a family history of breast cancer.
In January 2006, the American Heart Association reversed its position on soy.
Why haven’t I heard this before?
AllergyKids is one of the first independently funded food allergy organizations in the world. We highlight all food allergy research that relates to the health and well-being of children and their families.
Being independently funded, AllergyKids is able to avoid conflicts of interest that funding ties may present – the importance of which is detailed in the work of Dr. Susan Linn of Harvard University and Marion Nestle, former editor of the Surgeon General Letter on Nutrition and Health.
What can I do to learn more?
AllergyKids would like to highlight the work of Kaayla Daniel, PhD. In her book, The Whole Soy Story, Dr. Daniel details the cross reactivity between soy and peanut, specifically addressing in detail the risks that soy poses to children with peanut allergy and asthma.
In the United States, the Weston A. Price Foundation is spearheading efforts to address children with peanut allergy who were fed soy as infants and toddlers.
What else can I do?
If you believe that the consumption of soy products or soy formula may have played a role in the development of your child’s food allergies, please contact:
Sally Fallon, President
The Weston A. Price Foundation
PMB 106-380 4200 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20016
Phone: (202) 363-4394
info@westonaprice.org
How can I support AllergyKids’ Independent Research?
To support AllergyKids’ independent research, even if you don’t have a child with food allergies, please consider purchasing products for your child or your child’s school or preschool so that we can continue to provide families with the tools to help protect children.
We invite you to follow the lead of Linda, a nurse in upstate New York who conducted a fund raiser with her association of school nurses and purchased custom-designed AllergyKids Kits for every elementary school in the district.
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Please consider forwarding this email to your friends and family in an effort to spread this previously unhighlighted information about the risk that soy poses to children with asthma and peanut allergy.
If you would like to include this letter on your website or in your blog, please refer to AllergyKids as the source of this information and encourage your readers to sign up for our free newsletters which will continue to provide leading research.
If we can ever answer any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at http://www.allergykids.com or 1.800.671.1525.
As Robert F. Kennedy said, “Some men see things the way they are, and ask ’why?’”
For our children, we see things the way they should be, and ask ’why not?’
In our quest for a cure for these children, no truth is too complex. We must simply have the courage to pursue it.
With hope for our children,
Robyn O’Brien
Founder, AllergyKids
Mother of Four
1.800.671.1525
About Robyn O’Brien: Prior to launching AllergyKids, Robyn was in the process of applying for a PhD after drafting her first book, Sugar Mamas: Nutrition’s Impact on the Health and Well-Being of Mothers and Their Children. When her fourth child was diagnosed with potentially life threatening food allergies, she curtailed her personal pursuit in an effort to create greater awareness of the millions of children with food allergies.
Prior to motherhood, Robyn worked as an analyst on one of the nation’s largest mid-cap portfolio management teams. Her team was responsible for $20 billion in assets, covering everything from Enron, to Ebay to Martha Stewart. Robyn received an MBA in finance on a full scholarship and was a Fulbright Fellow.
In her efforts to create awareness of children with food allergies, she has received encouragement from Erin Brockovich and parents around the world.
Robyn asks that you please consider forwarding this email to others who are looking to protect the health and well-being of their families.
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Terresa Way said,
May 2, 2007 at 11:39 pm
Robyn, I spoke with you on the phone about my child and how our school has our elementary children make their own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It gets better, at the junior high some of the teachers keep peanut butter, jelly and bread (to make sandwiches) in their class room for children who have no lunch. I have stopped by my state rep.’s office and the senators office and plan on calling as many goverment officials as possible. Is it ok to share this information? I would like to contact our local paper and possibly the larger cities around me to see if they would be interested in doing news paper articles. I am also looking into getting together a support group in my area. As for my school they are still fighting me on premaking the sandwiches. What we need is goverment rules and regulations other than, providing a peanut free table or a safe room for the allergy kid to have their lunch. There needs to be more restrictions on where the peanut butter kids can sit, in order to keep the contamination down just as resurants have a smoking area for smokers. Also, I was told the new law for washing hands only pertains to, before lunch and not after lunch. After lunch is one of the most important times of the day. I think it is sad that the schools have stopped our children from washing their hands. They should wash when school starts before they enter their class and after recess and before and after lunch. Today they started handing out wet wipes to my son’s class so, they could wash their hands after they eat. We’ll see how long that last. Thank you for the information and your time! Terresa from Illinois P.S. I have been dealing with food allergies for the past ten years. and boy has the medical community changed their minds on a few things.
allergykids said,
May 31, 2007 at 10:48 pm
Thank you for sharing this important information, Terresa. Please let us know how we can help by contacting us at http://www.allergykids.com where you can also sign up for our free newsletters on how to protect your child with food allergies.
With hope for the cure,
Robyn
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August 22, 2016 at 5:50 am
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