Food Allergies: A Complete Guide for Eating When Your Life Depends on It (A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book)

Posing the questions that anyone with food allergies will think to ask―and then some―Food Allergies provides practical, emotional, and scientific guidance on the topics that affect your life. Allergy expert Scott H. Sicherer addresses the full spectrum of food allergies, from mild to life threatening, from single foods to food families, clearing up misconceptions along the way. He explains how exposure to foods can bring about an allergic response, describes the symptoms of food allergy, and illuminates how food allergies develop. He also recommends tests for diagnosing both food allergies and chronic health problems caused by food allergies―such as eczema, hives, and respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms.

Food Allergies thoroughly explains how to prevent exposure to a known allergen at home, at school, in restaurants, and elsewhere and what to do if exposure occurs, including how to handle an anaphylactic emergency. Dr. Sicherer also reviews food reactions that are not allergic (such as lactose intolerance), advises how to get adequate nutrition when you must avoid dietary staples, and discusses whether allergies ever go away (they do―and then sometimes they return).

Scott Sicherer, M.D., is a professor of pediatrics and chief of the Division of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York. He is also a researcher in the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mount Sinai. He is author of Understanding and Managing Your Child’s Food Allergies, also published by Johns Hopkins. To learn more about the author's research and clinical work, visit Mount Sinai Jaffe Food Allergy Institute on Facebook.