Neocate

Introduction to food allergy

Food Allergies

We all have an immune system to protect us from infections. Our immune system attacks the viruses and bacteria that can make us sick. With a food allergy, the body's immune system mistakenly reacts in a similar way to certain food proteins, which are called allergens. The immune response to the food protein and the symptoms that come from that reaction is called an allergic reaction. The 8 most common food allergens are the proteins found in milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts (e.g. almonds, walnuts), peanuts, wheat and soy.

Infants and young children are much more sensitive to these proteins as their immune systems are still quite immature. Severely allergic infants and young children may be allergic to several food proteins including cow's milk and soy milk proteins. They may also be allergic to the small protein fragments contained in hydrolzed formulas.

Allergic reactions to food can be rapid in onset (e.g. severe breathing problems, vomiting) after a child eats a very small portion of a food (e.g. half a peanut). Allergic reactions can also be delayed and require a larger portion of food (e.g. a glass of milk) to set them off. An example of a delayed reaction would be a skin rash or diarrhea which can take up to 3-5 days to appear.

Symptoms of food allergy

The following chart provides a summary of the type of symptoms that can occur in food allergy.

The majority of these symptoms can be due to causes other than allergy. Suspected food allergy needs to be investigated thoroughly by a physician.

Treating food allergies

Breast milk is the best milk for infants and is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and healthcare professionals around the world. A child with food allergic symptoms despite exclusive breastfeeding may be able to continue breastfeeding if his/her mother undertakes an exclusion diet.

Maternal exclusion diets should only be attempted under medical and/or dietetic supervision.

Neocate is designed to replace breast milk only in circumstances where breast milk is not tolerated, for instance if a child displays symptoms of food allergy while being exclusively breastfed and attempts to modify maternal diet have been ineffective. In such circumstances it may be necessary for your child's doctor to recommend Neocate.

For formula fed infants, food allergies including milk are treated by replacing milk and soy-based formulas with an amino acid-based formula such as Neocate. Neocate uses non-allergenic amino acids, the building blocks of protein, instead of partial or complete protein chains which are found in milk and soy-based formulas.

Infants with intolerance to extensively hydrolyzed formula and soy were safely and effectively treated in the long term with Neocate, in terms of both atopic disease and growth.