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Food Allergies Can Negatively Impact Quality of Life but There's Hope By Sherry Coleman Collins, MS, RDN, LD
Food allergy management requires vigilance over every bite of food to avoid uncomfortable and potentially life-threatening reactions. This fear can cause families to avoid dining out, social activities and even play dates with friends or relatives. Those with food allergies can face criticism related to their food allergy. In fact, according to a 2013 study of 251 families of children with food allergies, 31.5% of children and 24.7% of the parents reported bullying related to food allergies1. Limitations to this study include self-reported data and the fact that subjects are not demographically representative of the U.S. population as a whole, meaning the findings cannot be generalized. Even so, food allergies are often a lifelong condition and these negative factors can take a toll. Researchers have long noticed the negative impact of having a food allergy diagnosis on emotional health. According to a 2021 study with 382 participants representing adults, adolescents and parents of those with peanut allergies, mental/psychosocial impacts were more significantly problematic than those to physical health2. As with the previous study, the study limitations include self-reported data, which is subject to bias. More research is needed to better understand this issue. While research tells us that death due to food allergy reactions is rare, anaphylaxis is a real threat to those with food allergies and the worstcase scenario makes the headlines3. Healthcare providers should balance education for avoidance strategies and preparing for reactions with evidence-based context for true risk and address common misconceptions to protect quality of life for those managing food allergies. Shared decision-making can be helpful, as well as remaining aware of the potential impact on quality of life. The National Peanut Board provides funding for more research around quality of life related to peanut allergies.
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1Shemesh, E. A. (2013). Child and Parental Reports of Bullying in a Consecutive Sample of Children With Food Allergy. Pediatrics, e10-e17. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3529950/ 2Nowak-Wegrzyn, A. H. (2021). The Peanut Allergy Burden Study: Impact on the quality of life of patients and caregivers. World Allergy Organization Journal, 100512. https://www.sciencedirect.com/ science/article/pii/S1939455121000065 3Turner, P. J. (2017). Fatal Anaphylaxis: Mortality Rate and Risk Factors. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract, 1169-1178. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5589409/ 4Knibb, R. B. (2016). Parental self-efficacy in managing food allergy and mental health predicts food allergy related quality of life. Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, 459-464. https://derby.openrepository. com/bitstream/handle/10545/604748/Self-efficacy%20and%20QoL_PAI_main%20document.pdf?sequence=6&isAllowed=y
