New research study seeks hope
for children with food allergies
The startling increase in the number of people with food allergies is
prompting the development of a multi-site genetic research initiative headed by
the Bunning Food Allergy Institute at Children's Memorial Hospital.
Thirty years ago, food allergy was extremely rare. Today, 4.3 million U.S.
children suffer from the life-threatening condition. In fact, the number of
children suffering with peanut allergy alone has doubled in five years – and the
numbers continue to grow.
The Bunning Food Allergy Institute and the Bunning Food Allergy Foundation,
which will fund the study, are the products of a deep commitment to increasing
awareness, education and research in the field by north suburban Chicago
residents Denise and David Bunning whose two sons suffer from life-threatening
allergies to foods as basic as milk and eggs.
“Food allergy affects 95 percent of our elementary schools today,” says David
Bunning. “School nurses report that the disease is as much of a concern as
diabetes in terms of what they manage each day. And still it receives only $7
million in research funding from the National Institutes of Health — a mere 1
percent of what is spent on diabetes research each year.”
The four-year, $5.5 million research initiative will look at the impact of
environmental and genetic factors on children who suffer with food allergies.
“Xiaobin Wang, MD, of Children's Memorial Research Center and lead investigator for
the initiative, has already begun collecting data on thousands of children in
Boston and China. She and her research team are now working to launch a
large-scale multidisciplinary study on patients with food allergy at Children's
Memorial. Non-allergic patients at the hospital will serve as the control
group.”
“This multi-site approach will allow us to advance scientific discovery
through the analysis of a large number of patients,” says Dr. Wang.
Keeping these children safe is harder than most people think. Simply
ingesting trace amounts of the allergens through the air or by touching a table
top can be lethal,” says Jacqueline Pongracic, MD, Head
of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at Children's Memorial and a food
allergy expert. “This initiative will help to uncover the mystery of the
increase in this disease and will eventually help lead toward a treatment.
“Our work with Children's Memorial has created a strong base of clinical and
research excellence,” says Denise Bunning. “We hope the inclusion of other
research centers in our work will serve as a catalyst for finding ways to
improve the lives of millions who are threatened by this deadly condition.”
For information regarding the study mentioned in this article, please contact
Deanna Caruso, Project Coordinator of the Children's
Memorial Food Allergy Study at 312.573.7755, or at dcaruso@childrensmemorial.org.