With so much attention placed on kids with food allergies, it is easy to forget that adults and senior citizens can (and do) have food allergies too. Oftentimes, adults with food allergies struggle to find age appropriate resources among the plethora of “back to school tips” and “playdate advice” articles found on most food allergy advocacy sites. The reasoning for the abundance of child-oriented information is sound: food allergies are more prevalent in children under the age of 5 than in adults. Nevertheless, food allergies impact up to 26 million adults in the US.
Approximately 11% of adults in the US have a food allergy, while about 8% of children have a food allergy
Food Allergy research and education (FARE)
Adults with food allergies face unique challenges compared to children with food allergies. While the primary concerns for children with food allergies include teaching them about their allergies, navigating school with food allergies, and managing friendships with food allergies, adults have different challenges to face such as navigating the workplace and juggling their own diets with those of their spouse and children. Adults whose allergies arose later in life struggle particularly because they are unfamiliar with the ins and outs of food allergies. In these cases, people struggle the most with giving up an allergen because they understand what they are missing. Unlike a child with a milk allergy who probably doesn’t care much for dairy ice cream as long as they have their coconut replacement, an adult with a new dairy allergy is unused to searching for coconut ice cream. They are more likely to miss all of the items they can no longer eat, because they once enjoyed these items with ease.
Finally, one of the biggest problems faced by adults and senior citizens with food allergies is isolation. Food allergies are often seen as a childhood condition, not as something that can affect people of any age. As a result, many adults with food allergies report feeling excluded from the food allergy community while simultaneously not quite fitting in with free eaters. Food Allergy Allies wants to remind our readers to be cognizant of adults with food allergies in order to make this frequently overlooked member of the food allergy community…. not so overlooked!
Article Sources:
https://www.foodallergy.org/living-food-allergies/information-you/adults-food-allergies
Food Allergy Allies 