Welcome to Allergysf.com
This is the website for the Bay Area Allergy Advisory Board, founded in 2007 in San Francisco by a parent who has spent years advocating for the safety of children dealing with life-threatening allergies.
Do you realize that an estimated six to eight percent of children under the age of three have food allergies, and that nearly four percent of all adults have them? In the Bay Area alone, that would amount to over 250,000 people!
Yet our local schools, restaurants, grocery stores, retail shops and other public places are totally ill-equipped to help someone who has been inadvertently exposed to a food allergen. This can have deadly consequences!
We are now at the early stages of growing this organization, but there are already some exciting announcements coming soon. So please give us your contact information, and we’ll let you know what progress we are making.
FAAN Walk for Food Allergies
We are proud to announce that Mireille Schwartz, founder of the Bay Area Allergy Advisory Board, has joined country star Trace Adkins in being named Honorary Chair for the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network’s (FAAN’s) 2009 Walk for Food Allergy: Moving Toward A Cure in San Francisco.
This is an amazing opportunity to help build awareness and fund research to improve the health of millions of people affected by food allergies. FAAN is a national nonprofit whose mission is to raise public awareness, to provide advocacy and education, and to advance research on behalf of all those affected by food allergies and anaphylaxis.
Approximately 12 million people, or 4% of the U.S. population, suffer from food allergy! Over 380,000 California children under the age of 18 years cope with food allergies daily. One in every 25 kids in a school can have a potentially fatal reaction to a food allergen.
One of FAAN’s main fundraising efforts is the Walk for Food Allergy, a family-friendly event that brings the community together in support of FAAN and its efforts against food allergies. In 2008, 25 sponsors and over 600 walkers in San Francisco helped earn over $110,000 for FAAN. Way to go, San Francisco!
With the support of hundreds of sponsors and over 15,000 walkers, FAAN raised $2.3 million from all 26 Walk for Food Allergy events held across the country in 2008. In the sixth year, the demand for FAAN Walks has increased to 36 cities across the nation. On Saturday, September 12, 2009, San Francisco will host its third Walk for Food Allergy in Golden Gate Park.
Mireille’s Honorary Co-Chair, Country Music star Trace Adkins, understands the serious dangers of food allergies from his experience in managing his daughter Brianna’s severe allergies to multiple foods, including to peanuts, milk, and eggs. He continues to help FAAN as the national spokesperson and to serve as the National Honorary Walk Chair for the 2009 Walks.
In 2008, Trace appeared on “The Celebrity Apprentice” in an effort to raise awareness of food allergies and support FAAN. “I’m so pleased to be able to lend my name as the National Honorary Chair,” says Trace.
Please visit foodallergy.org for more information about this important organization and the September 2009 event.
Let Them Eat Cake!
A delicious selection of “Let Them Eat Cake” goodies.
For a truly allergy-conscious catering of delicious treats at your next Bay Area event, we recommend the
good folks at Let Them Eat Cake! They call themselves “The Allergy-Friendly Patisserie,” specializing in egg-free, dairy-free, nut-free, vegan deserts, and they’re just great!
Amanda Macdessi, executive pastry chef for Let Them Eat Cake!, provided all of the allergy-safe items at a recent high-profile event that the Juicy Couture store in Union Square hosted for the San Francisco Zoo’s annual fundraiser, ZooFest for Kids.
BAAAB’s Mireille Schwartz, who helped organize the event at Juicy Couture, brought Let Them Eat Cake! into it and was so happy to create an allergy-safe environment for all of the guests.
Contact Information: Let Them Eat Cake! [T: 408-716-8582]
Oral Allergy Syndrome
We’d like to draw your attention to this report from CNN about some exciting new research about oral allergy syndrome (itchiness or hives in the mouth after eating certain foods.)
Many people may be affected by it and not even know the cause. But now scientists have discovered both the cause and the treatments.
- Article: “Oral Allergy Syndrome May Explain Mysterious Reactions” [cnn.com]
Promising Treatment for Peanut Allergies
Friend of BAAAB, Christopher Bently of Bently Holdings, shared this article on a benchmark study today.
Treatment for Peanut Allergies Shows Promise
By TARA PARKER-POPE
New York Times
Published: March 16, 2009
Children receiving daily doses of peanuts under medical supervision were able to build a tolerance.
A medically supervised daily dose of peanuts may help children with peanut allergies greatly increase their tolerance to the food, according to two new studies that raise the possibility of a cure for this potentially life-threatening condition.
The findings, presented on Sunday at a meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in Washington, suggest that a treatment for peanut allergy may be developed in two or three years, said Dr. Wesley Burks, the chief of the division of pediatric allergy and immunology at Duke University Medical Center, who helped conduct the research.
An estimated 12 million Americans suffer from food allergies, including about 2.2 million children. About 3.3 million people are allergic to peanuts or tree nuts. While drugs can be used to treat an allergic reaction, there are no approved treatments for food allergies.
Because even a minor exposure can set off a reaction, many people at risk strictly avoid foods that contain an allergen or were prepared in places where nuts or other allergens might have been used.
Nearly half of the 150 deaths attributed to food allergies each year in the United States are caused by peanut allergies, according to Duke University.
The new treatment uses doses of peanuts that start as small as one-thousandth of a peanut and eventually increase to about 15 peanuts a day. In a pilot study at Duke University and Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, 33 children with documented peanut allergy have received the daily therapy, which is given as a powder sprinkled on food. Most of the children are tolerating the therapy without developing allergic reactions, and five stopped the treatment after two and a half years because they could now tolerate peanuts in their regular diet. But four children dropped out because they could not tolerate the treatment.
In a related study of just 18 children, the researchers gave the treatment to 12 children and a placebo powder to 6. After 10 months, the children were given a medically supervised test exposing them to peanuts. In the placebo group, the children developed symptoms after ingesting the equivalent of one and a half peanuts. In the treatment group, the children tolerated 15 peanuts without symptoms.
Far more study is needed before the treatment can be used outside of a research setting, Dr. Burks said. The Duke/Arkansas study plans to enroll at least 80 children in the next few years to compare the treatment to the placebo.
Researchers in Britain have reported similar results in small studies in which children were given daily peanut doses to build their tolerance. The Consortium of Food Allergy Research, which includes five major research centers in the United States and is financed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is conducting similar treatment studies for both egg and peanut allergies.
Dr. Burks pointed out that the children in the studies were under a high level of medical supervision, and that parents should not try the approach on their own. “These studies do give us hope that there will be a treatment in the next two or three years,” he said. “It’s not something to do in practice or at home yet.”
BAAAB launch in San Francisco Magazine
It is truly an honor that the launch party for the Bay Area Allergy Advisory Board was featured in the “Outtakes” section of the March 2009 issue of “San Francisco” magazine, published by Modern Luxury.
The magazine selected a photo of BAAAB founder Mireille Schwartz blowing out the candles on a birthday cake that friend, and BAAAB supporter, Monica Maduro presented at the Epi Party in January.
Change Starts at Home
We are pleased to report that BAAAB’s Mireille Schwartz was honored this month at “Change Starts at Home,” for her creation of the Bay Area Allergy Advisory Board.
The magazine’s Laura Rose writes “For most parents with a child that has a life-threatening food allergy, just making sure their child is safe every day is more than enough to worry about. But Mireille Schwarz isn’t like most parents; she understands that all children are ‘our’ children.”
Our thanks goes to Change Starts at Home for helping us spread the word about the BAAAB, and the need to get EpiPens in the hands of families in need.
Peanut-sniffing dog makes news
This amazing story from The Colorado Springs Gazette received international attention this week, and highlights the need for more research, education and understanding about the severity of food allergies.
BAAAB featured in SF Chronicle
We absolutely could not be happier by the coverage our organization received today in the San Francisco Chronicle.
The article “Lifesaving Lesson Highlights Birthday Bash,” written by one of the City’s best reporters, Carolyne Zinko, notes that “The recent kickoff party for the Bay Area Allergy Advisory Board featured something more valuable than a trinket: a lesson in how to use an EpiPen, an emergency treatment for people experiencing life-threatening allergic reactions.”
The article appears online, and also in SFis, the Chronicle’s monthly style magazine.
Epi Party featured at RedCarpetSF.com
With hundreds of big social events taking place in San Francisco each year, it’s not easy to capture the attention of RedCarpetSF.com, which generally covers the biggest, high-profile events in the City.
So what a nice testament to the success of our first awareness-raising event that we are one of the few nonprofit events featured on the site!
Epi Party featured at SFLuxe.com
The Epi Party was featured today at sfluxe.com, the website founded by BAAAB’s Director of Marketing & Audience Development, Damion Matthews.
Epi Party in SF Examiner
Today the San Francisco Examiner had a small item on the Bay Area Allergy Advisory Board’s EpiParty at Le Club. We are so grateful to publications like the Examiner for drawing attention to this event, and help us reach our goal of raising awareness about EpiPens!
Epi Party covered by 944 Magazine
We are delighted to see that 944.com and the February issue of 944 Magazine have featured our Epi Party!
Our deep gratitude to 944 Magazine for helping us raise awareness about the vital importance of Epi Pens for those who suffer from severe food allergies.