This information is approved and/or reviewed by U-M Health System providers but it is not a tool for self-diagnosis or a substitute for medical treatment. You should speak to your physician or make an appointment to be seen if you have questions or concerns about this information or your medical condition. Exención de responsabilidad en Español | Complete disclaimer
A very few foods are responsible for most food allergies. Although your child could be allergic to other foods, the most common foods that cause allergies are milk, soy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, and wheat. You should have your child tested for food allergies if your child has some of the following symptoms shortly after eating:
If possible, see your healthcare provider while the allergic reaction is occurring. This will help your provider with the diagnosis.
Your healthcare provider diagnoses a food allergy by reviewing your child's medical history. Keeping a diary of what foods your child eats before he or she has symptoms is a good way to help figure out what food is causing the problem. Y Your healthcare provider or allergist may want to do one or more of the following tests: an elimination diet, a skin test, a blood test, or a food challenge test.
Medical history: Your child's healthcare provider will ask about your child's history. Your provider will want to know:
Elimination diet: Your healthcare provider may want your child to stop eating suspect foods for a week or two and then add the items back into the diet one at a time. This can help connect symptoms to specific foods. During this time, you will need to keep a record of any symptoms your child has and the foods the he eats. If your child has had a severe reaction to foods, this method cannot be used.
Skin prick tests: A skin prick test is often used to test for food allergies. For this test, a drop of food extract is put on the skin and then the skin is pricked with a small needle through the drop of the food extract. The test can also be done with a pricking device that has been presoaked in the food extract. Only the top layer of skin is pricked. The test is usually done on the child's back or arm. The skin test is ready to check in about 15 minutes. If your child is allergic to one of the foods, a red bump that looks like a mosquito bite will appear at the spot where the food extract was placed.
Intradermal skin test: For this test, a small amount of allergen is injected under the skin with a syringe. This test is more sensitive than the skin prick method, and can be used if the skin prick tests are negative.
Skin tests are not very painful, but they can be scary to a young child. Before the test, explain to your child what is going to happen to help calm any fears. For children who have extremely severe allergic reactions or other skin conditions such as eczema, the skin test may cause irritation or even life-threatening reactions. In this case, the RAST Test would be a safe alternative.
Blood test (RAST test): Blood tests are not done as often as skin prick tests, but they can be useful in certain cases. Blood tests are sometimes done on babies less than 1 year old because their skin does not react to the prick test as well as it does for older children. A sample of your child's blood is sent to a lab for testing. This test measures the amount of certain antibodies (IgE antibodies) in the blood that the body makes when trying to fight off the allergy-causing food substance. The lab results show the amounts of specific IgE antibodies found in the blood for certain foods.
Food challenge: Your healthcare provider may want your child to do a food challenge test. During this test, your child is given gradually increasing amounts of the food while a healthcare provider watches for symptoms. This test should be done only by a trained professional who is ready to treat your child in case of a serious reaction. In cases of allergies that cannot be tested using a blood test (such as some gastrointestinal allergies), a food challenge test may be the only good way to make a diagnosis. The food challenge is also good way to see if your child has outgrown an allergy.
If the skin or blood test is negative for a food, then your child probably does not have an allergy to that food.
If the skin test is positive for a certain food, it may mean your child is allergic to that food. Neither the size of the reaction on the skin test or the level of IgE antibody in the blood test determines how severe your child's symptoms will be. Sometimes the test can be positive even if your child is not allergic to the food.
The positive test result can be wrong sometimes because:
Figuring out what the tests really mean can be quite confusing. Your child's healthcare provider must always look at the medical history along with the test results to help diagnose an allergy. This is especially important when your child has tested positive for several foods and eliminating all of those foods from the diet will make it difficult to provide adequate nutrition. Sometimes tests need to be repeated to check the first result. Some food allergies are outgrown by children. Others, like peanut or fish allergies are more likely to be lifelong. Ask your healthcare provider if and when your child should be retested.
How should I prepare my child for an allergy test?
Your child may need to avoid taking certain medicines before the tests because they might affect the test result. For example, antihistamines can interfere with skin test results and should be stopped one to several days before the test. Make sure your healthcare provider knows about any medicines or supplements that your child takes. Ask your provider when to stop taking the medicine before your child has allergy tests.
For more information contact:
Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN)
Web Site: http://www.foodallergy.org.
The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology
Web Site: http://www.aaaai.org
