By Brittney Williams 

In a time when food allergies are becoming more widespread, steps are being taken to provide better diagnosis and treatment to the nearly 15 million people suffering from food-related allergic reactions.

On May 1, Montefiore Medical Center opened its new Food Allergy Center, a part of the Division of Allergy and Immunology of the Department of Medicine at Montefiore. The hospital’s satellite clinic, at 1515 Blondell Ave. near Morris Park, is the only one of its kind in the borough, offering a more specialized and focused approach to the treatment of food allergies, treating both children and adults.

With allergies  affecting such a large number of people in this country, new ways of diagnosing and dealing with food allergies have been developed in recent years. As of now, the food allergy epidemic remains a mystery, though popular theories persist.

The development and industrialization of society plays a big role. Dr. Manish Ramesh, the new director of the Food Allergy Center, suspects that many food allergy cases happen in more industrialized nations.  “The general consensus seems to be that we are evolving to a more excessively clean lifestyle and we are moving away from traditional foods and exposure,” said Ramesh. “There seems to be an increasing coincidence of allergies and in particular, food allergies.”

Research shows that 90 percent of food allergy reactions are caused by eight natural foods– milk, eggs, peanuts and tree nuts (cashews, walnuts, almonds, pecans, and pistachios), wheat, soy, fish and shellfish. Other foods can cause reactions as well, but are less common.

Traditional tests, such as a skin prick or blood tests can be used to identify most food allergies, but they tend to have a large number of false positives. It is important to figure out if a person is actually allergic to specific foods. “Avoiding a number of foods has a great burden psychologically, nutritionally and economically for people,” said Ramesh.

Refraining from eating certain foods require special diets, and can cause nutritional, emotional, social and financial problems. For this reason, it is crucial for a patient to be accurately diagnosed to help avoid allergic foods. “It’s very important to figure out if the person is truly allergic, and also if all they are going through is truly necessary,” said Ramesh.

The Center provides advanced testing such as component tests and oral food challenges (OFC) to reduce false positives and help treat a wide range of allergies that are more troublesome. The oral food change is a more specialized approach where a patient is fed suspected food in measured doses and observed for signs of reaction.

Component testing involves breaking down foods into individual protein components to improve accuracy in contrast to traditional testing which looks at the food as a whole and causes problems in diagnosis.

With more accurate diagnoses, patients will be able to take necessary measures in staying away from the foods they are allergic to and be more aware of cross contamination. Although most people are not concerned or know of cross contamination, education about it will help more people become aware of the problem. At this time however, “the burden actually ends up being unfortunately on the patient to ask the right questions,” said Ramesh.

The tests will also be able to help predict if a person is outgrowing their allergies, which is common. Ramesh encourages adult patients to come back annually and children twice a year to track their allergies.