FARE Blog

Each year during Food Allergy Awareness Week, we dedicate a day to raise awareness of anaphylaxis, a serious and potentially life-threatening allergic reaction. In this guest blog post, Rhett Needleman, a member of FARE’s Teen Advisory Group, offers insights into the importance of self-knowledge and prompt action when treating anaphylaxis. To learn more about how you can help save a life, take FARE’s free online anaphylaxis training, How to Save a Life: Recognizing and Responding to Anaphylaxis.

Today, we are asking advocates to call their legislators and ask for support of the FASTER Act on FARE's first annual Virtual Hill Day. These calls will be occurring the same time as FARE staff are meeting with legislators on the Hill, with the goal of building the number of co-sponsors on this important piece of legislation. FARE Advocate Stacey Saiontz is a strong supporter of FASTER, in her own words:

Artist and substitute teacher Jennifer Domal has managed multiple food allergies since early childhood. In an interview, the West Chester, PA, resident reflects on food allergy awareness, friendship and kindness to strangers.

A guest post by Teen Advisory Group (TAG) member Mariah McConnell (shown here at left with her mom and sister). Mariah writes, "Mother’s Day is a time to celebrate, recognize, and appreciate the influence mothers have on society and the world. While I could never even capture half of how much I and all children with food allergies appreciate our food allergy moms, I hope this post sheds light on the lives they live and how much they do for us. Thank you for all that food allergy moms do to make this world a safer place for all."

One of the most difficult issues I’ve dealt with in my food allergy journey is interacting with people who don’t have food allergies. Whether it be teachers, extended family members or friends, it can be hard to spend time with people who don’t understand food allergies. Today’s post will focus on friends, and I’ll provide you with some advice on how to spend time with your friends and talk to them about your food allergies.

The prevalence of food allergies in the U.S. is greater than it’s ever been before, roughly doubling every ten years. Diagnoses of anaphylactic food reactions have risen by 377 percent since 2007, according to recent FARE-commissioned data.

On Saturday, April 13, food allergy investigators and patient advocates came together in McLean, VA, for the Seventh Annual FARE Research Retreat. The gathering included 120 clinicians, industry representatives, scientists in academia and public service, and directors from the 33 Centers of Excellence in the FARE Clinical Network. Together, they shared experimental findings and explored new opportunities to fulfill FARE’s mission: to improve the quality of life and health for patients with food allergy and provide hope through the promise of new treatments.

Robert M. Anthony, PhD, is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and a principal investigator in the Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital. He received a mid-career FARE Investigator in Food Allergy award in 2017. Here he discusses his research on how the glycosylation of allergy-associated IgE antibodies – that is, the addition of sugars molecules to IgE proteins – might influence food allergy.

Recognizing March as National Nutrition Month, this guest post by Teen Advisory Group (TAG) member and cookbook author Catherine Walker encourages food allergy patients and families to get creative in the kitchen with wholesome, allergy-friendly meals. You can hear more from Catherine in this month’s FARE+Well newsletter.

Stephanie Eisenbarth, MD, PhD, is an associate professor of Laboratory Medicine, of Immunobiology and of Medicine (Immunology) at Yale School of Medicine. She received a 2017 Mid-Career FARE Investigator in Food Allergy Award for her research on a rare, inherited sensitivity to food allergens that could shed light on the mechanisms of food allergies in the wider population.