11th Annual Food Allergy Awareness Week

May 11-18, 2008 is The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network's (FAAN) 11th annual Food Allergy Awareness Week.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the
National Institutes of Health issued a joint release, Raising Awareness to the Personal and Research Challenges of Food Allergy, to mark the occasion.

It starts:

May 11-17 marks the 11th Annual Food Allergy Awareness Week, a time set aside to increase the public’s awareness of food allergies and the potential challenges they pose. In an average week in the United States, two or three otherwise healthy Americans will lose their lives, and nearly 5,000 will be hospitalized due to allergic reactions to foods. Approximately 6 to 8 percent of children under age 4 and nearly 4 percent of persons age 5 and older have a food allergy.

Aside from their immediate and sometimes life-threatening consequences, food allergies affect an individual’s health, nutrition, development and quality of life. These burdens disproportionately affect children. For children and their families, severe food allergies are accompanied by the fear of future serious reactions and the stigma of avoiding common foods, particularly in school lunchrooms and other social settings, where others too often do not understand the seriousness of the allergy.

FAAN will present an educational briefing tomorrow in Washington, D.C.

Reports state that FAAN will be starting a new advocacy initiative. More than 12 million Americans suffer from food allergies. That's only 4% of the population, a number far more reasonable than some claims that are thrown around but still a huge number of people who face issues with every bite they eat.