Author: Ingrid Roche, Accredited Practising Dietitian | FOOD ALLERGY There are several gastrointestinal food allergies that are known as “non IgE mediated food allergies”. This means they don’t involve IgE antibodies and you can’t use skin prick tests or blood tests to diagnose them. Other immune cell systems are involved in these kinds of allergies.
What is Gastrointestinal Food Allergy? Read More »
Author: Ingrid Roche, Accredited Practising Dietitian | FOOD ALLERGY What is food allergy? In Australia, 90% of food allergies are caused by 9 foods. These are egg, cow’s milk, soy, peanut, treenuts, wheat, fish, shellfish and sesame. It’s important to know, though, that ANY food can cause a reaction, and there are over 170 foods
What is a food allergy? How is a food allergy diagnosed? Read More »
Author: Ingrid Roche, Accredited Practising Dietitian | FOOD ALLERGY There is some confusion about when to introduce allergenic foods to babies with some Facebook groups recommending avoiding common allergens such as peanut during pregnancy and breastfeeding and delaying giving it to your baby! This is NOT CORRECT! There is now good evidence that introducing peanut to
When and why should I introduce allergenic foods to my baby? Read More »
Author: Belinda Martin, Accredited Practising Dietitian|PREGNANCY NUTRITION What is it? Choline is an essential nutrient, which just means that our body can’t make enough of it and we must consume it (eat it!) What does it do? Choline is a substance needed for a lot of things that happen in our body. It helps maintain
Do you need to care about Choline? Read More »
Author: Belinda Martin, Accredited Practising Dietitian | PREGNANCY NUTRITION The first 1000 days is the period of development from conception to 2 years of age. We have always known that this is an important time for development, but researchers have now discovered that what happens in the womb and throughout the first two years of
Have you heard of the first 1000 days? Read More »
Author: Belinda Martin, Accredited Practising Dietitian | FOOD ALLERGY Currently the standard treatment for food allergy is strict avoidance of eating the specific allergen or allergens you are allergic to. Food allergy occurs in around 5-10% of children, and 2-4% of adults in Australia and New Zealand. Most kids will outgrow food allergies, but studies
Author: Belinda Martin, Accredited Practising Dietitian | FOOD ALLERGY IgG testing is in vogue and is offered by several labs claiming to diagnose food sensitivities or allergies. These tests involve reporting IgG levels to multiple foods (about 90-100) and claim that removal of foods with a high IgG level can lead to improvement in symptoms.
IgG testing- Pseudoscience or Evidence Based Practice? Read More »
Author: Belinda Martin, Accredited Practising Dietitian | PREGNANCY NUTRITION The coeliac society lists ‘unexplained subfertility’ as a ‘symptom’ of undiagnosed coeliac disease which suggests that if you are having trouble falling pregnant, maybe you should be screened for coeliac disease. Is there evidence for this? Yes, there is! A large Danish study published last year
Unexplained subfertility? Could it be undiagnosed coeliac disease? Read More »
Author: Belinda Martin, Accredited Practising Dietitian | PREGNANCY NUTRITION Do you have to take Listeria seriously? Yes! Yes you do. Listeriosis is a rare illness caused by eating food contaminated with bacteria called listeria monocytogenes. Tragically, it has been confirmed that the most recent case of listeria monocytogenes has resulted in the death of an
Listeria – Do we really have to take it that seriously? Read More »
Author: Belinda Martin, Accredited Practising Dietitian | PAEDIATRIC NUTRITION Being back at school is a super busy time for everyone so you might be thinking that there is no way you can sit down together this week to eat a family meal. This can be especially difficult if like most families, the kids have after
When was the last time you ‘broke the bread’ with your family? Read More »