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Students adjust to allergies

March 13, 2008

By: Lily Zhao <lzhao@hilite.org>

It is 12:20 p.m. and the stirs of C lunch have begun. Junior Yiting Zheng unpacks her lunch of noodles and shrimp and watches as her friends come in after getting their school lunches. While most students purchase their lunches, Zheng is among many students here who pack their lunches because they have food allergies.

“(Food allergies bother me) because when I would go out to eat with my friends and family, I usually have to ask for a special menu with all the ingredients and markings indicating common foods people are allergic to,” Zheng said. “It’s kind of hard to ask them that because I don’t want to be rude.”

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 11 million Americans suffer from some type of food allergy today, and many researchers believe that this number will increase, especially among children. Hugh A. Sampson, a food-allergy pioneer at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, said that the increase might be due to the “hygiene hypothesis,”—the western style diet. Here, many students who have had food allergies for a long period of time, like Zheng, have adjusted well to life in high school with them; however, students who have just recently been exposed, are learning how different life is in high school compared to elementary school.

“There will definitely be an increase (in the number of students with food allergies), but what (the students) and their families have to learn is how to avoid the food and circumstances where the food might be,” Wesley Burks, professor and chief of pediatric allergy and immunology at Duke University, said.

Zheng said that eggs, soybeans and peanuts, among other foods are a no-no in her household. Ever since she was born, Zheng said that she has been allergic to 36 different allergens, the most abundant allergies being food-related. Because Zheng has had food allergies since birth, she has adjusted to life in high school with food allergies well. Dealing with medication and the constant asking of ingredients have become the norm for her, she said.

“I’m perfectly fine now (with the transition), but back when I was little, keeping up with my medication was hard. Now, it’s just a regular part of my life that I have to deal with,” Zheng said.

On the other hand, junior Najin “Julie” Kim has recently been exposed to food allergies. Up until her freshman year here, she said she was perfectly fine. Now, she is allergic to five types of food. At first, she said that carrying around medication everyday was a hassle and that she would sometimes forget to take it.

Furthermore, since the high school nurses cannot possibly take care of every student with allergies, Kim said that she has had to constantly remind herself to take medication and ask for ingredients. That transition from constant care in elementary school to virtual freedom in high school, is another aspect that she said she witnessed, but now has to get used to.

“(Having food allergies) has increased my awareness of the dangers of allergies and has helped me to be more selective about what I put in my body,” Kim said.

Now, in elementary schools, such as West Clay, the school cafeteria is set up with a nut-free or allergy-free zone for students to eat in. West Clay school nurse Michelle Davitt said that in the beginning of the year, parents contact the nurses if their child has a specific allergy and can request that they be seated at a specific table within hat special allergy safe environment.

In high school, however, students are old enough to make their own choices. Thus, the high school does not send out cards in the mail asking whether a student has food allergies, and does not provide a list or menu of ingredients for students. Davitt said that the elementary schools do provide all these needs.

“There’s enough variety (at lunch) for students to choose from, such as cheese, yogurt parfaits, salad shakers and cheese pizza,” cafeteria manager Kathy Tolan said. “Kids these days should be old enough to understand what they can and cannot eat.”

“A lot of (food choices from the school cafeteria) are obvious to the eyes, but a lot of other foods in the cafeteria are hard to tell, but I’ve adjusted,” Zheng said.

Kim said that although she is quite new to having food allergens, she said that in time, taking the medication and checking ingredients in food will become a part of her life as well.

Sampson and Burks said that getting used to having constant care at a young age to no care whatsoever is hard; however, they said, having food allergies is something that students need to cope with and learn from.

“It may be hard for some kids who have all the care in the world, but for others, it’s like learning to walk,” Sampson said. “Once you get there, it never goes away.”

Updated by Xingping · Filed Under Feature 

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