Chicago – Parents need more education to prevent young children from suffering potentially fatal allergic reactions to food, according to a study (.pdf file) published online June 25 in the journal Pediatrics.
Researchers studied 512 infants 3 to 15 months old with a documented or likely allergy to milk or egg for an average of about 36 months. They reported that 269 children experienced at least one allergic reaction to food during the study, and found parents provided the food in 36.2 percent of the cases.
The reasons for unintentional exposures included reduced supervision, misreading labels and cross-contamination, according to the study.
