title: Parent-reported food allergy requiring an avoidance diet in children starting elementary school.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the prevalence of parent-reported food allergies requiring avoidance diet at early school age.
  
  
  METHODS
  The school health nurses interviewed, by using a structured questionnaire on the required diet at school, the parents of all the 1542 children starting elementary school in a Finnish town with 210,000 inhabitants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An allergy to basic foods was found in 41 (2.7%) children: 1.5% to milk, 1.1% to eggs and 1.0% to grains. An allergy to nuts was present in 3.1% and to fruits and vegetables in 5.8%, both with known cross-sensitization to pollens. In all, 9.2% of the children reported some allergy. Milk, egg and grain allergies were associated with soy, nut and spice allergies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Over 2% of the 1542 Finnish first-graders reported allergies to basic foods (milk, eggs or grains) requiring special avoidance diets at school. The figure suggests that avoidance diets started in the first years of life still unnecessarily continued.
authors: Paediatric Research Centre, Tampere University and University Hospital, Tampere, Finland.
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Kallio
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Salmivesi
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Kainulainen
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Paassilta
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Korppi