Should I worry about the mild allergies? Is this common? How likely is it that she'll grow out of some or all of these allergies? How likely is it that they'll worsen with time?


A warm welcome to you!   I recall when my daughter (now 15) was diagnosed-- it was confusing and terrifying, and my family HAD experience with food allergies.

As the others have noted, some of those "mild allergies" may really be false positives.  Avoidance can make the situation worse, if you're going overboard.  That's the hard thing, though-- there IS no one right answer.  Some allergens and allergies, avoidance is all that you can realistically do, in terms of management.  In others, (milk and egg come to mind right away), avoidance beyond that needed to avoid reactions can actually cause a lower threshold to become a problem...  so yes, you SHOULD worry about those mild allergies-- but mostly, you should be worried about them in terms of individual management decisions, made upon the basis of your particular, detailed case history and probably determined with the aid of a really great pediatric allergist.  A good allergist will make your life EASIER.  Really.

As for your next two questions... well, there is good news and bad news there.  The bad news is that the generation of kids born after about 1999 seem to be "super-atopic" and they do not outgrow their food allergies the way that their parents' generation did.  For those of us in the vanguard of that cohort, believe me, it was BRUTAL to hear that my daughter "should" outgrow her egg allergy "by preschool... by kindergarten... by elementary school... um... well, don't know WHY she hasn't done that..."     We finally took matters into our own hands with the aid of a great allergist and came up with a modification of a desensitization protocol based on what egg she COULD tolerate.  It was just too terrifying to have a child who, in her teens, was still so frighteningly sensitive to egg or milk.  It was severely limiting in terms of her quality of life, and it was certainly taking years off of my own.

The GOOD news is that the level of understanding about atopic conditions in general, and food allergy in particular, is WAY more nuanced than it was two decades ago.  It is now clear, for example, which markers must be present in order to give reasonably good odds for an in-office food challenge to determine when an allergy has been outgrown.   This is really terrific news since it USED to be thought that people like my DD probably would never outgrow those allergies that they should not have had once they entered school.    But she will be scheduling an open egg challenge (we think) just a few days prior to her start of college classes. 

I consider that a miracle, and it's one that wouldn't have even occurred to us to LOOK for even a decade ago.

My DD was, at your DD's age, allergic to:  wheat, soy, milk, peanuts, treenuts, and eggs, and had anaphylaxed pretty spectacularly to more than one of them.  By the time she was four, she was no longer allergic to wheat, and tolerated some soy.  By age 8, the list had shrunk to just egg, milk (with some tolerance) and peanuts/treenuts.   By age 12, only egg and nuts remained, though she had some oral allergy syndrome that has been pretty refractory even with aeroallergen treatments (allergy shots).   She challenged egg with a low-low dose baked egg challenge at that point, and we think-- almost 4y later, that is, of DAILY dosing-- that she might actually be able to pass an open challenge now. 

So.

Her tolerance for soy, milk, and egg may never be what it is for someone who is truly NOT allergic... but it's enough for her quality of life to be nearly normal.  That's really an extraordinary thing given where we were fourteen years ago.    So PLEASE take hope.   


I actually found myself mentioning to my husband that its likely that if the general population was tested, many people would probably have a low level allergy to many foods

Yup.  You nailed it.  This study has actually been done, believe it or not, and at least half of those people who BLOOD-test positive have no sensitivity to the food at all. 

I know that there are more people here with more knowledge about this that will chime in as well.

But to echo what SS said, if she is eating wheat and eggs with no reactions, then the test is almost certainly a false positive.  The false positive rate for skin and blood allergy tests is extremely high.

Did you just have a pediatrician run the allergy test?  I would want an allergy doc - one with experience in food allergies - not just environmental, to consult with you and advise you on what to do.  You know that you need to avoid peanuts, obviously, but you probably do not have to avoid everything on that list. 

I am a pretty atypical person (adult onset allergy, multiple severe food allergies, life threatening reactions to atypical foods).  It took my allergist and I a pretty long time to figure out what exactly I needed to avoid.  There are things that I test positive to that I am not actually allergic to and that I eat frequently.  There have also been a few things that I tested negative to that turned out to be issues.  These are the types of things that you really need the help of an allergist to help figure out.

QuoteThe ped said if she doesn't have a rx when exposed to these others, then no need to avoid.

Sometimes people have false positives with allergy tests.  A diagnoses of an allergy requires a reaction, not just a test.

If she is not reacting to some of the things she reacted to, she probably isn't allergic to them.

Hi all,

Found out the hard way last week that my 1.5 y/o has a pretty severe peanut allergy. I'm nervous. We've got the epipen and of course I will be constantly reminding myself to be watchful of the tricky peanut from unsuspected sources. But I'm looking for you all to share your comments/experience/expertise/suggestions. Blood test results scaled her at a high 4 (on a scale of 0-6) for the peanut allergy. They also said she's mildly allergic (1 or 2 out of 6) to: cod, egg white, shrimp, corn, soy, wheat, sesame seed, walnut, and scallop! The ped said if she doesn't have a rx when exposed to these others, then no need to avoid. She's eaten plenty of cod, egg and wheat in the past. Used to react slightly to whole egg (no rx to yolk alone) but not anymore. Should I worry about the mild allergies? Is this common? How likely is it that she'll grow out of some or all of these allergies? How likely is it that they'll worsen with time?

I'm really more worried about the wheat and egg white on this list. She's a toddler--i.e. picky eater. Many of her go-to choice include wheat: pasta, whole wheat "pizza" (wrap with sauce, cheese, and whatever protein and/or veggies I'm able to conceal), crackers, bread. She loves scrambled eggs. Often, if the carb isn't there to conceal the protein/veggies, she won't eat it at all. Then there's the whole issue of cooking completely separate meals for her, which I tried to stop doing (to save my sanity and actually have some quality time with her daily) when she was able to eat real solids. I'm a health scientist, so I know how to research properly but I'm becoming exhausted by dead ends and mixed messages and general lack of indisputable fact. I actually found myself mentioning to my husband that its likely that if the general population was tested, many people would probably have a low level allergy to many foods. And I know that many people will feel mental clarity and physical wellbeing when cutting out some of these common culprits. I want to do what's best for her, of course. But I feel that that would require changing the whole family's diet. My husband drinks Coke every day and doesn't even remotely watch his diet. He's not likely to be receptive to giving up the foods he loves and grew up on. I could go on, but do you see what I'm getting at here? If a very small exposure can cause gut inflammation and immune reaction, and a massive overhaul of what we eat would be required to avoid these ingredients...How do you strike an kind of balance??

I find it alarming and I'm having trouble reconciling the fact that the wheat, corn, and soy are ingredients in a vast majority of foods. And I don't think its a coincidence that my infant--with an immature digestive and immune system--is showing reactive tendencies with these foods. Its not that we eat a lot of processed food, but still. I started to research "allergic to wheat corn and soy" and was almost immediately led to a lot of conspiracy theory masking what might be absolute fact (humans are not evolutionarily designed to eat these things, etc.). I am so torn as to what is the right decision to make for my child and my family.

Sorry, I know this is long and ranting...