The Two Paths of the Elimination Diet: Diagnosing Food Allergies in Children

For children who suffer from allergies, activities of daily living can be drastically impeded, especially when those allergies involve food. Food allergies are a leading cause of health complications among children in the United States. In fact, estimates report that just less than 20 percent of all children, in the United States, have some form of food allergy.

As a parent, when your child is suffering from complications associated with a potential food allergy, it is important to seek out medical attention in an effort to obtain guidance and treatment for the allergic reaction. While there are many allergy tests on the market, many healthcare professionals will recommend beginning with a simple process known as the Elimination diet.

Food allergies create health complications leading to edema, hives, rash, complications with the bowel and gastrointestinal system. In terms of secondary health complications, food allergies are often associated with upper respiratory complications, complications involving ear infections, acne and even asthma.

To diagnose a food allergy in your child, using the Elimination diet, you essentially have two options. The first option involves the removal of the food you believe to be the culprit, allowing a few days to pass, and then determine if your child experiences a change in health status once the food has been removed. If the health of your child does not improve with removal of the one food, then re-introduce the food and remove another. By using this process, you are eliminating only one food at a time, thus narrowing down the food which is the culprit in your child's food allergy.