Have you ever posted a food allergy question on social? Don't miss this episode in which Pam poses real food allergy questions from social media to Dr. Hoyt!
What's your food allergy question? Subscribe to our newsletter to ask your questions!
Looking for one-on-one time with a food allergist to finally get your food allergy questions answered? Sign up for Food Allergy Office Hours for Parents!
Engage with us on Instagram!
Are you in need of an allergist in your area?
AAAAI Allergist Finder
ACAAI Allergist Finder
OIT Allergist Finder
Would like to become a patient? Reach out to the Institute!
Does your kiddo's school need help with medical emergency response planning? Check out the non-profit Code Ana.
This podcast is the official podcast of the Hoyt Institute of Food Allergy. Information on, within, and associated with this site and Food Allergy and Your Kiddo is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice.
Have you ever posted a food allergy question on social? Don't miss this episode in which Pam poses real food allergy questions from social media to Dr. Hoyt!
What's your food allergy question? Subscribe to our newsletter to ask your questions!
Looking for one-on-one time with a food allergist to finally get your food allergy questions answered? Sign up for Food Allergy Office Hours for Parents!
Engage with us on Instagram!
Are you in need of an allergist in your area?
AAAAI Allergist Finder
ACAAI Allergist Finder
OIT Allergist Finder
Would like to become a patient? Reach out to the Institute!
Does your kiddo's school need help with medical emergency response planning? Check out the non-profit Code Ana.
This podcast is the official podcast of the Hoyt Institute of Food Allergy. Information on, within, and associated with this site and Food Allergy and Your Kiddo is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice.
Hello and welcome to Food Allergy and your kiddo. I am your host, dr Alice Hoyt, along with my amazing co-host, ms Pam Lestage. Hello, pam, how are you?
Pam Lestage, MBA:Hello, I'm good. How are you? I'm excited. This is my first video cast.
Alice Hoyt, MD:I know it's going to be awesome.
Pam Lestage, MBA:I know.
Alice Hoyt, MD:I'm excited. It's a good episode today. I think so too Our illustrious, very creative title Real Questions posted on social media.
Pam Lestage, MBA:Yes, Dun dun dun. So many people go to social media to ask questions because they don't know where else to ask. They leave their allergist office and they don't know. They think of all of these questions afterwards and instead of making that call or maybe they don't feel comfortable making that call they just go to social media to ask other parents who have lived it, which can be good, but sometimes it's not the best place to get especially medical advice. And also, I think sometimes new parents who maybe aren't in need of a food allergist yet will ask some questions. So we're just going to I'm going to throw some questions at you today and see how you, an MD board certified, will answer.
Alice Hoyt, MD:Oh right, great, yes, and I think so. I know some of the questions, but I don't know all of the questions. And, like as Pam said, there's definitely value in hearing the lived experiences of others. That is definitely a value, and having community, that is definitely a value. But what is really important to keep in mind whenever you're on social media is, of course, what is evidence based, what is factual, what is not and, honestly like, what really applies to your kiddo. So when Pam throws these questions at me, I'm going to answer them, but I'll also probably go down a few rabbit holes, go on a few tangents. I'm sure Pam will reel me in.
Pam Lestage, MBA:It's what we do, so it makes the podcast fun. There you go. All right, you ready, I'm ready. Okay, I'm going to start with what I think is maybe a little easy one for you. This is actually from someone that I was on my friends list and it says starting baby led weaning. In two weeks because my baby will be six months old, we're introducing peanut butter. Then what was your favorite way to do this? And she sort of asked all of her friends list and so I thought it was a great question what is your favorite way to recommend? A? Maybe weaning their kiddo from milk or breast milk, but also introducing those allergens early.
Alice Hoyt, MD:Yeah, no, that's a really good question, and what I want all families to keep in mind is that this is different, really, for every child. Now, if your kiddo has severe eczema or an egg allergy, then we know that they're at higher risk for having a peanut allergy. That's pretty solid data at this point. That being said, there is also research that suggests that if we just mask it everybody to introduce allergens early meaning around four or six months, something along those lines instead of waiting until they're one or two years old then we can have significantly less food allergies, especially a significantly less peanut allergy. So then, what really is my favorite way to introduce peanut? It's the way that the family will do it most regularly, because sometimes families think, oh well, I just need to introduce it once, make sure they're not allergic and then go about my merry way. That is really poor marketing on the part of the allergist. That is not what early introduction is all about. Early introduction really should be called early incorporation of the food, and the purpose of incorporating foods into the diet early is to teach the immune system to tolerate the foods. We're talking specifically about foods that are commonly allergens peanuts, tree nuts, like milk, wheat, soy, thin fish, shellfish, within reason, and then also now sesame. So those are the ones that we want to start feeding kiddos early.
Alice Hoyt, MD:And specifically for peanut, the specific question of what's the favorite way to introduce it, it really does come back to how will the family not just introduce it but keep it in the diet. So, of course, thinking about well, we already have some peanut butter in the pantry, so let's just mix some peanut butter with breast milk, make it a nice consistency that's a appropriate for a kiddo who is around six months old. If you have a kiddo younger than that, who you've talked with your allergist or you've talked with your pediatrician and they're definitely recommending introducing peanut at four months to help prevent the development of peanut allergy, then you can also look at some of the products that are little packets to mix in with a bottle, or if you have a little baby who is exclusively nursing, doesn't take a bottle at all. Then you can also think about things about putting a little bit of peanut butter on the nipple. There's lots of different ways to do it.
Alice Hoyt, MD:But it comes back to how is the family going to do it, and do it regularly, Because when we're talking about incorporation, we're talking about at least three times per week. So this is where other products, especially as kiddos get older, can become super fun. And when I say older, I mean there's just such a big difference between a four-month-old and an eight-month-old and a 12-month-old.
Alice Hoyt, MD:And so Puffs. I've been a spokesperson for Mission Mighty Me Puffs. I think they're a great company. They were developed in part by Gideon Lack, who is the primary author of the LEAP study, and so that study was really the landmark study that showed that early introduction and incorporation of peanut helps prevent the development of peanut allergy. So you can do Puffs with my kiddo, my little guy. I do a lot of the Puffs because it's easy. It's easy and it's not as messy as the peanut butter, even though, like I'll do sometimes, the peanut butter diluted to a nice texture to mix it up. But really it just comes back to what is the family going to do regularly?
Pam Lestage, MBA:So one of the questions which you kind of hit on, or one of the comments on her post, was that another parent did it on their finger every day for two weeks but then stopped after two weeks because she had heard that and this is straight from her. She heard that allergies get worse with more exposure after two weeks. So basically, that's I know the answer to this, but you alluded to it that that's not true, that you need to. It's not introducing it one time or a couple of days, it's incorporating it in the diet, and so that is a prime example of, yes, you can go to social media to to get some help. But remember, these are humans that have never been to med school sometimes. So it's definitely important to see your allergist, or to ask your pediatrician in that case, if you don't have an allergist yet.
Alice Hoyt, MD:No, that's exactly right. Yeah, there's no evidence that shows that. Do it for two weeks, because then you stop, because then they're at higher risk. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Introduce, incorporate, keep it there. It's just like going to the gym, it's just like eating healthier to have that that body, that wellness that you want, you do it, you do it. You can't just cold turkey, stop and expect the same results, right. And so you want to introduce and incorporate.
Pam Lestage, MBA:Awesome. Okay, here is one about an older kiddo and I found this on a food allergy page for parents and it says my freshman is learning about EpiPen use in health class. I'm keeping a close, open communication about this to make sure he's learning correct info and not what is against our action plan. I'm calling the allergist to confirm later, but he was taught yesterday that if your heart rate is up during a run, for example, you have it and you have a reaction that you should not use your EpiPen because it could kill you. Is this fact myth? Please help.
Alice Hoyt, MD:Oh, my gosh. No, no, what is that? What is that?
Pam Lestage, MBA:And I know who posted that, who posted that, but you know I'm glad she posted it because she knew that was wrong. And no, that's absolutely wrong, you know well, it's like she knew it was wrong, because she was like let me ask my allergist. But she also posted it trying to get other people's comment, so I thought it was a great question for you. I knew you were gonna have that reaction.
Alice Hoyt, MD:That like way. Emotional reaction like oh my gosh, okay. So no, that's very inaccurate. Exercise increases the heart rate, increases the body temp. Both of those things Decrease or lower the threshold to have an allergic reaction, meaning you're at increased likelihood of having an allergic reaction if you accidentally ingest your allergen and then you go for a run. There is also an entity called food dependent exercise induced anaphylaxis.
Alice Hoyt, MD:One of the most common allergens associated with that condition is wheat. These patients, they can eat wheat products, sandwiches, whatever they want, anytime, but if they then exercise within a window of when they eat something that contains wheat, then they can have anaphylaxis. So the treatment for anaphylaxis is epinephrine. Epinephrine coming from an auto injector is incredibly safe. It doesn't matter if your heart rate is already up. Chances are your heart rate is already up if you're having anaphylaxis, because when you're having anaphylaxis your body is already secreting increased amounts of epinephrine, hopefully to help combat the reaction. And it's really the epinephrine from the auto injector that's sort of like a supplement to help make sure that you've got enough epinephrine on board to shut down that allergic reaction. So no, if your heart rate is already up, it's not surprising. Your heart rate is already up in an allergic reaction. It doesn't matter if you're running or not. Anaphylaxis is. Epinephrine is the treatment for anaphylaxis.
Pam Lestage, MBA:So it was a myth.
Alice Hoyt, MD:True statement. Wow, they're teaching that in a health class, I know so. I think if you're listening to this podcast you've probably heard me talk about stock epinephrine. I'm very engaged in this space. I'm a huge advocate for stock epinephrine meaning epinephrine in schools, non-school entities to be used in case of anaphylaxis for somebody who doesn't necessarily have an epinephrine auto injector, and that has never been something that we teach in a stock epinephrine sort of education.
Alice Hoyt, MD:Meaning stock epinephrine is epi that's prescribed really for anybody to use when the symptoms and signs of anaphylaxis are recognized, and so that's going to be a little bit different.
Alice Hoyt, MD:Sometimes when you're using stock epi, it can be a little bit different than when an allergist has told their patient to use epinephrine. And let me give an example of that. If my patient, if I know my patient, little Allie let's say little Allie I know she has a very sensitive peanut allergy. Even low amounts of cause very serious reactions in her. I know that if she eats even a little bit of it and she starts having any symptoms, my recommendation for her is to use epinephrine promptly, even if she's only having a few hives. If I know she has had a serious reaction in the past and she injected her and she ingested her allergen and she is now having symptoms of a reaction. I'm telling her promptly use your epinephrine, because we want to stop that reaction before it gets big. In the case of stock epinephrine, we don't necessarily have that luxury of knowing someone's past medical history, so we're definitely leaning into the definitions of anaphylaxis, the most common being the two systems involved. Right.
Pam Lestage, MBA:It's a great question. I'm glad we were able to discuss it. Thanks for asking it Pam. You're welcome. Here's another one, and it was actually asked to you online what is the difference between skin patch testing versus skin prick testing? I believe I have actually had skin prick testing because they poked me with needles.
Alice Hoyt, MD:Yes, so that was that was a really good question. This, this post, was. I can't remember the origin of the post, but it had to do with she thought she was allergic to something and she wouldn't have patch testing and lots of things came up positive and it was something like that, something like that and and she was asking like what to do, I think, and so I said, well, any, what do you mean? You had patch testing, because patch testing is testing that we as allergists and also dermatologists, use to help identify different types of allergens, not anaphylactic allergens, allergens like nickel allergy, you know, like if you wear costume jewelry and you get like a really bad rash and stuff. That's a delayed hypersensitivity. It's a very different immunologic process. And so then anaphylactic food allergies, and so we use different testing for evaluation of that. And that's what patch testing is, which is little patches that are impregnated with nickel, with fragrance, which, with all these different things. Little patches actually get applied to the back and they stay on for a couple of days, you don't shower, and then you go back in to the doctor's office, they remove them, they look and see if there's little red marks that would suggest that there is a hypersensitivity or a delayed allergic response occurring. And then you actually go back a few, a few more times if you're being super thorough with the patch testing, because it can take a few days for some of these allergens to induce that delayed allergic inflammation.
Alice Hoyt, MD:So that's patch testing, skin prick testing, and it's not needles that we use. We use a lot, of a lot of times it's a little plastic skin pick device. There are a few different types of devices on the market. Yes, in the old days and I'm taking back to my residency when I was first being exposed to allergy like, yes, there there is a method where you can use a needle. So maybe someone is still using a needle, but you're not like injecting anything. It's just very tiny, just like bricks in the skin, really just exposing that type top layer of out top layer of the immune system to the allergen. And you, you read that test. After you put the little bricks on either the arm or on the back, then you, you look for the little red, raised, itchy wheel like a little. It looks like a little mosquito bite that wheel to appear within about 15 minutes. And so skin prick testing is used to determine whether or not allergic antibodies, specifically IgE are on those mast cells, on on those allergy cells in that top layer of the skin, and that that test is right about 15 minutes, whereas the patch testing is used for a delayed hypersensitivity, like I said, like the costume, jewelry, stuff, and that's read a few days later. So that's the big difference.
Alice Hoyt, MD:And so why I chimed in? Because I don't? I I try to be very engaged in what's going on in the food allergy social media world so that I can bring the best evidence and best information to our listeners and our viewers. So why I really like engaged in this post is because it was very concerning to me that here is a woman who is experiencing allergic symptoms and potentially had a completely incorrect evaluation.
Alice Hoyt, MD:Right, and I'm going to put a plug in right now for board certified allergists, which, if you have an allergy or you suspect you or your child has an allergy, then you want to see a board certified allergist, pediatricians, e&ts, gi docs. They can provide some really great information about food allergies. Sometimes they are not as informed and I will say if you're a board certified allergist, you have done fellowship, you have done significant training, you are going to the conferences, you are the most engaged. You are the expert, so that is who people who have allergies should be seeing if they have suspicion of allergic disorders. So if you have a kiddo with a food allergy and you've not seen a board certified allergist, get in with a board certified allergist that's well.
Pam Lestage, MBA:I say that's awesome because that's my go-to phrase, but it's I. I knew that some people confuse skin patch testing with skin prick testing but I have to be completely honest, had no idea what skin patch testing was. I just sort of like but that's very interesting, because I don't. I think most people probably are like me and this woman, who really don't understand the difference until it happens and maybe like they still don't have the answers. And again, that's why it's nice to go to social media to maybe have community, but it's just the best to speak to a board certified allergist.
Alice Hoyt, MD:Absolutely, and I think in one of these cases too and I'm wondering if it was this particular person they were evaluated for their food allergy by an ENT. Look, I love a good ENT, don't get me wrong ENTs are incredibly valuable, but when it comes to food allergies, you want to be evaluated by a board certified allergist.
Pam Lestage, MBA:Right, right, that's a great question, great answer. Okay, here's a little bit of a longer one. It was also posted on a food allergy group. It said I would love to understand better the correlation between OIT and outgrowing an allergy. I was under the impression that they are mutually exclusive. Example if you are doing OIT, then you're still considered allergic and have to take maintenance doses for the rest of your life, which will preclude the possibility of the allergy going away on its own. Is this wrong? And my reading? I am reading a lot of comments on other posts that talk about how people started OIT early for their children to maximize the chances of outgrowing the allergy and I would love to understand this more accurately. Thank you.
Alice Hoyt, MD:Yeah, this is a really good question, and so I don't like to use the term outgrow when we're talking about a kiddo who had an egg allergy at eight months and then, by the time they're five, doesn't have an egg allergy. I prefer to use the term the allergy self-resolved or tolerance spontaneously developed. The reason I use those terms is because when we're thinking about the immune system and I've probably said this before on this podcast when I was a fellow in training I used to think well, why are these kids developing food allergies? And that's really not the way to think about it. What we need to think about is why aren't kids developing tolerance to certain foods? And what we know is that all allergens are not created equal. So what studies show is that maybe 20 to 30% of kids with a peanut or tree nut allergy, the allergy will self-resolve or they'll outgrow it, whatever terminology you want to use, by the time they're five, seven, something like that. It'll resolve 20 to 30% of kids with a peanut or tree nut allergy. So that means we're saying 70 to 80% of kids. It's going to stick around for a while.
Alice Hoyt, MD:And let's think back. We first noticed the uptick in peanut allergy in the 1990s, so it's not like we're dealing with some disorder that's been around since Job, right, no, right. So then, when we think about egg or even milk, to some extent a lot of times those kiddos it is self-resolving, or this is where we need to tease out the data more. Is it that it's self-resolving or is it that a lot of these kiddos are able to tolerate egg milk when it's baked, and so they have that in the diet and it sort of is a form of immunotherapy, where the baked egg, baked milk, is teaching their immune system to tolerate the protein and then by the time they're five, six, seven, whatever starting school, then the allergy has resolved. And is it really that it was outgrown, that their immune system outgrew it, or was it that it was in the diet? Well, we know that evidence tells us that if it's in the diet, it can help in many cases develop tolerance. There was a study that compared egg OIT with eating baked egg and who develops more tolerance, and egg OIT was more powerful, meaning more kids were developing better tolerance. However you want to interpret the study, but there were still kids that were tolerating egg after they were eating baked egg. So that's where that's a very long-winded answer to this question.
Alice Hoyt, MD:That really is such a good question and one that I talk with my patients a lot, especially our littles, because I am a big advocate of oral immunotherapy in the right setting. So if it's a kiddo who has a peanut allergy say it's a one-year-old has a peanut allergy pretty legit peanut component testing results has a pretty legit history. We're not just dealing with a kiddo who was skin tested because they have eczema and then they're being referred to my practice. It sounds like a pretty robust history. So in that kiddo we look at what the reaction history has been and what is the likelihood of itself resolving.
Alice Hoyt, MD:That is going to be a very different case than when we have a kiddo who had hives at eight months with scrambled egg, has a negative ingestion challenge to baked egg and that's the only allergy they're dealing with. In that case very rarely do I encourage, if ever, oit for egg. If the only allergen they're dealing with is egg and they can tolerate baked egg, it's just very rare. Now if they're already doing OIT for peanut and they have this egg allergy, then will we do OIT for egg too? Yeah, we typically will. So that's where it can be very allergen specific, very patient, specific, but ultimately, at the end of the day, we don't know whose allergy is going to self-resolve. That's where I'm hoping that the research will continue to catch up to us, because we're living this every day. But that's exactly the conversation to be having with your allergist.
Pam Lestage, MBA:And we actually have had a few people ask us about should I start OIT? Because what if they outgrow it? But, like you said, there's no answer. I think, a lot of times we, as parents of allergic kids or of kids who have allergies, want to know the definitive. I think we all do as parents as humans.
Pam Lestage, MBA:We want to know, we want to see the outcome and, especially as parents with kiddos who have food allergies, we're trying to juggle what are my best options. If I don't do this, then will this happen? Or if I do this, but this happens. And so, like there's a lot of what ifs, and I find, as a person who speaks with parents, as the care navigator for your practice, sometimes they struggle with OIT or slit before they come see you because they just want to know the answers and I often have to tell them. Sometimes we just don't know and what Dr Hoyt will recommend is the best next steps, because we can't see into the future. We can't. We hope that little Joe is going to outgrow his allergy at whatever time, or resolve See, I use the wrong terms too. His allergy will resolve, but we just don't know that. And so if we don't know that but we want it to resolve, then OIT is your answer.
Alice Hoyt, MD:And I'll go back to the question, because I think the question about well, if we start doing OIT, then we'll never know if they were gonna outgrow it, right, if you start doing OIT, you do OIT, you do a full-dose challenge, they tolerate a full-dose challenge and then they just start eating it. They start when the case of egg milk you incorporate that into the diet. It's a staple food and you kind of just make sure you have it in the diet a few times per week. A lot of those patients, they leave the allergy in the rear view mirror.
Alice Hoyt, MD:Now, allergists are not gonna commit to this word cure that we cured your food allergy. We're not there yet, right, but in a lot of these cases egg milk, these staple foods once we can get it into the diet and it stays in the diet, then it kind of fades into the background. So it's the whole. Well, if we start OIT, we'll never know if it was gonna be outgrown. You're right, you won't. The other thing to consider here is the goal of immunotherapy and this is a big conversation that I have with my families, that we have with our families.
Alice Hoyt, MD:Is your goal to free eat Like you want your kiddo to be able to sit at the lunch table and eat the same peanut butter and jelly sandwich as his or her friends. Or is your goal to be bite-proof, Meaning if they accidentally ate a bite of something to which they were allergic, they're not gonna have a severe allergic reaction Either way. By the way, tangent lunch table discussion we don't like alienating children based on their food allergy. Oh no, we do not. I have a whole other podcast, Woo. But what really is your goal with oral immunotherapy and so many families? They want their kid to have that level of protection that, whether they're four and they accidentally eat their friend's cookie, or they're 14 and they're out ordering food and somebody accidentally serves them something that has their allergen in it, they just want that level of safety and that's what OIT can do. So, even if you don't know if the kiddo is going to develop tolerance, some families still want that level of protection that you can get with immunotherapy.
Pam Lestage, MBA:And I think it's important too, especially to our listeners, that in what we tell patients is that, as with allergies, oral immunotherapy is very individualized as well. Just because XYZ reach a certain level does not mean that you will. It all is so dependent on that child's body or their history and all of that. And so if you're listening, if you're listening with a kiddo with food allergy and you're teetering on the line, or you're just here because you want to learn more information, just know that Just because it works really well for one, we're not saying it's not gonna work really well for you as well. But you have to remember that the timelines can often change, Cause I think that's what parents sometimes struggle with the most is that they feel like they need to hit certain milestones at certain times, and that's not.
Pam Lestage, MBA:You always like to say slow and steady, and it's so true with all of that that we never want someone to come to our podcast and think well, Dr Hoyt and Pam said this, but it's not happening to us, it may not. It may not happen the same way that we're telling you. So, just as a parent and as a person who sometimes speaks to parents who are struggling, know that that we'll get there. We'll get there it just it may look a little different than it does for other people.
Pam Lestage, MBA:Yep.
Alice Hoyt, MD:That's exactly right, pam, I know.
Pam Lestage, MBA:Okay, I have a question that is actually Last question. Last question Okay, this blew my mind. I saw it on Instagram.
Alice Hoyt, MD:Oh gosh.
Pam Lestage, MBA:And it was. It blew my mind. I immediately was like ah, I wish I could just like be a keyboard warrior and like respond to this person.
Pam Lestage, MBA:A person who claims to have a gluten allergy and a wheat allergy and these are words that came out of their mouths cannot eat them in the States went to Europe and posted a story about how in Europe, because there's no preservatives or they farm their wheat differently, he was able to eat all of the wheat and all of the gluten without having any problems at all and no rashes and no allergy reactions. And I just thought, ah, ah, so Dr Hoyt, yes, if he can eat wheat and gluten in Italy, he's not allergic in the States correct.
Alice Hoyt, MD:So you're hitting the nail on the head.
Pam Lestage, MBA:And look, and I'm not to say there's not maybe an intolerance there and maybe he he reacts to something and that's fine and I can understand that, but we're not talking. He didn't use the term intolerant, I'm intolerant. He used the term I am allergic.
Alice Hoyt, MD:Right, and so this is where the term allergic has been commandeered to really kind of mean anything, right, right, so you can have the way you can have adverse reactions to wheat. Wheat is with with IGE, meaning you can have anaphylactic wheat allergy. You can have non-celiac gluten sensitivity, which is some sort of inflammation in the gut. We don't know a whole lot about it. Some people don't believe in it, I do believe in it. And then there's celiac disease, which is an autoimmune condition. So those are the three wheat slash, gluten associated adverse reactions to foods In a wheat allergy. What a wheat allergy means is that you eat wheat and that wheat protein binds to wheat IGE on the person's mast cells because they have a wheat allergy, so they have wheat IGE on their mast cells and then they have an allergic reaction high swelling, trouble, breathing. This typically occurs within, starts to occur within 30 minutes. Pretty much definitely is occurring by two, maybe three hours. So that is what a wheat allergy is. Who's thought of the?
Pam Lestage, MBA:epinephrine.
Alice Hoyt, MD:Yes, treatment is epinephrine for wheat induced anaphylaxis, and I talked earlier in this episode about food dependent exercise induced anaphylaxis. That's also wheat, but is there weird stuff that we see wheat doing? Yes, or that we see gluten doing which is different than wheat yes. So in this case, this is definitely something that I would encourage that person to see a board certified allergist about, because it's awesome that this person had improvement of whatever symptoms they were having with wheat here in the States. But I would also look at first try to give this person a diagnosis. What really is their diagnosis? Why are they having any symptoms anytime here in the US or wherever they are?
Alice Hoyt, MD:And what they might also be getting at is some of the changes that have been made to wheat plants and all of these things. Right, genetic modification of foods, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm not going to go down that rabbit hole, but of course, if we're having genetic modifications of foods, could that impact the way the immune system recognizes them? Just like if we process foods differently, can that affect the way the immune system recognizes them, interacts with them? Sure, but really this person needs to have a diagnosis from a board certified allergist so that they really can live their best life. Figure out what's safe, what's not safe for them and in what context?
Pam Lestage, MBA:Yeah, and the reason that I really wanted to bring it up was mostly because those are the types of things that we can sometimes see on social media that if you're not well informed, then you maybe have celiac or you have a wheat allergy and you think to yourself oh well, joe Blow said that he went to Europe and he ate all of these things.
Pam Lestage, MBA:And if you take that information and without asking an allergist or a doctor, and you go to Europe and you eat it and you have a reaction, I just think things like that are so dangerous, and so that's why we wanted to ask some questions and why we've had, in the past, podcast about the dangers of social media, because while, yes, it is good and it is good for someone to share their story, but you have to remember that people sharing their stories on social media are just people for the most part, and they may incorrectly use terms that make other people think, oh well, if you were able to do that, then that means I can do it, because in no world I would imagine that a celiac person would.
Pam Lestage, MBA:I mean, you're still a celiac in Europe and so it's just such wrong information and you don't want to be a person who maybe is following these people and think, oh well, they had such a great experience, I'm going to do it too. And then you have adverse reactions. And so just remember that, that, yes, good community, but remember who the source is and, as always, go see a board certified allergist. This was fun.
Pam Lestage, MBA:Yeah yeah, I think it was fun. It was fun. I have more questions, but you know we're on a time limit, so we'll have to do this again Next time. Next time, Part two. This was a lot of fun, Thank you, and I think we'll have to do this again. For families who well, all of our families but who sometimes go to social media to ask things, I think it'll be helpful for them to understand that. Okay, well, I can maybe start getting formulating an idea from there, but I need to bring that back to my MD.
Alice Hoyt, MD:And this is also I'm going to plug our office hours, because this is where we help families navigate. It's not a medical appointment, but we help families, we guide them and what questions they should be asking to their allergist to get really good answers. Yeah, sure Love it. Thanks so much, Pam. Thank you, I enjoyed this. Thanks so much for tuning in. Remember I'm an allergist, but I'm not your allergist. So talk with your allergist about what you learned today, Like subscribe, share this with your friends and go to foodallergyandyourkiddoscom where you can join our newsletter. God bless you and God bless your family.