Kids with stubborn asthma may have food allergy

Inner-city children with poorly controlled asthma or skin allergies may be more likely to have food allergies, a new study hints.Researchers found that among 228 inner-city New York children seen at their allergy clinic, 28 percent had a food allergy -- with eggs, peanuts and milk being the prime culprits. By contrast, the rate of food allergy among U.S. kids in general is only about four percent.
And a full 71 percent were "sensitized" to at least one food - meaning they had immune system antibodies in their blood against a particular food. In other words, their body was on the alert, and they were at increased risk of an allergic reaction. That rate too is much higher than average. Nationally, food allergies are seen as a growing problem. In 2007, about three million school-aged children had a food allergy -- up 18 percent from a decade before. And there is some evidence that children's emergency room visits for severe food reactions are on the upswing as well. . read more.

Early Exposure to Pets Does Not Increase Children's Risk of Allergies, Study Finds; Evidence Suggests It May Actually Reduce Likelihood

A new study reveals that keeping a dog or cat in the home does not increase children's risk of becoming allergic to the pets. Parents of young children frequently want to know whether keeping a dog or cat in their home will increase the risk of their children becoming allergic to their pets. Young men whose families had kept an indoor dog during their first year of life had about half the risk of becoming sensitized to dogs compared to those whose families did not keep a dog in the first year of life. Both men and women were about half as likely to be sensitized to cats if they had lived with a cat in the first year of life, compared to those who did not live with cats. . read more.