According to the latest data provided by the Canary Institute of Statistics (ISTAC), more than 100.000 canaries suffer from some type of food allergy and around 25.000 children under three years of age are allergic.
Last year, the Spanish Association of Pediatrics published a Study that analyzes the latest developments on the diagnosis and prevention of food allergies. In it, it is stated that in the last decades allergic diseases have increased exponentially; and although it seems that asthma prevalence is stabilizingThat of food allergy and anaphylaxis ("Severe allergic reaction throughout the body to a chemical that has become an allergen") is growing dizzily.
Recent studies and the increase in food allergies
According to the Study, in Spain in just over 20 years food allergy has increased from 3,6% of diagnoses to 11,4%, that is, has tripled its prevalence. For example, the prevalence of cow's milk protein allergy in a I study a group of newborns (carried out at the Severo Ochoa University Hospital in Leganés, during the period of 2016), reflects that in the first year of life it is 2,4%. And for the egg allergy of 1,6%.
Taking into account the number of births in our country in 2016, we would be talking about more than 30.000 people would have a food allergy, constituting a Public health problem of the first magnitude.
The Study also estimates that:
- Without having a family history of allergic disease, there is a risk of suffering from some kind of food allergy from between 5 and 15%.
- If a brother is allergic, the risk increases to 25 and 35%.
- If father or mother they are allergic, the risk is 20 and 40%, being of 40 to 60% if both parents are allergic and 50 to 80% if the father and mother have the same allergic disease.
What is a food allergy? And what are the most frequent allergies?
According to Dr. José Ángel Cumplido Bonny, specialist in Allergology of Perpetual Help Hospital of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, food allergy occurs after “lA food intake that is harmless to the body, but which the immune system misinterprets as harmful, which causes it to overreact by attacking itself".
The foods most frequently involved in allergy in children They are milk and egg. They are also the ones that most condition their quality of life, since they are foods that are integrated into a multitude of foods. Allergy to nuts, fruits, fish and shellfish are also common in children and adults.
Most frequent symptoms of food allergies and possible consequences
The most frequently involved symptoms are usually cutaneous, digestive and respiratory, but sometimes it can even lead to an "anaphylaxis," a severe allergic reaction that can produce a multi-organic failure, with risk of collapse and patient death.
It is precisely food allergies that are the main Anaphylaxis reason in childhood.
Last year in the month of May a five year old girl died in a school in Palma de Mallorca, as a result of an anaphylaxis caused by the ingestion of a product that contained, among its ingredients, cow's milk. A young woman also died in Tenerife awarded by the accidental intake of nuts. This has been put back on the table a reality as uncomfortable as urgent: the absence of a common action protocol, as well as the lack of training of school staff.
Action protocols in schools, against food allergies in Canary Islands
In the Canary Islands, We continue without a protocol against severe allergies of children in schools. Families request more training and a effective and common intervention in all schools to create a suitable environment for children with allergies.
While it is true that they are working on it and other problems that can affect school-age children. It is our duty to inform that the Spanish Association of Pediatrics launched last year a “Help Guide for Teaching Centers“, Prepared by more than a fortnight of health professionals, to guarantee a healthy school. In it, school staff will find answers to questions about how to act in urgent situations, accidents and front to children with chronic diseases; Among other important issues. We highlight in our article today the recommendations against children with food allergies and intolerances (you can read the document by clicking here)
From CanaryDoctor, we will continue attentive to new developments in schools in Canary Islands, for to be able to inform to parents and representatives interested in this important issue.