Keeping scary out of sweets

Halloween can be a lot of fun — costumes, parties, trick-or-treating. 

But for kids with food allergies and their parents, the holiday can be frightening.

Many Halloween treats contain ingredients — eggs, food dye, peanuts, for example — that can cause horrible physical reactions in people with certain allergies.

In fact, if a food-allergic child accidentally eats, or is otherwise exposed to, an allergen, it can be a life-threatening situation, said Dr. Maxcie Sikora of the Alabama Allergy and Asthma Center in Homewood.

Food allergens can cause a reaction called anaphylaxis, leading to constricted airways, severe lowering of blood pressure, shock and suffocation. Such reactions result in about 150 deaths per year, the FDA estimates.

Understandably, Halloween festivities create a large amount of anxiety for parents, Sikora said.

So how do kids and their families enjoy Halloween while coping with health risks than can be more frightening than any ghost or ghoul? 

There is no easy fix, and parents and their children must remain vigilant, as they do year-round, for foods their kids must avoid.

But according to Sikora and Leann Kinnunen of Mountain Brook, it is also critical to talk to neighbors and family members about the real risks of food allergies at Halloween and other holidays. Kinnunen’s 8-year-old son, Marko Maglic-Kinnunen, suffers from food allergies.

Many Americans need to develop a greater understanding of the problems food-allergic people face, Sikora and Kinnunen said.

To keep kids safe on Halloween, communication with neighbors and family members, especially before trick-or-treating, is critical. 

“For parents, educate the people around you,” Kinnunen said. “That’s the only way that you will get allies who will be on your side and help you out — is when they know about food allergies, and they care.”

“Educating your neighborhood” is important, Sikora said. “Talking to parents ahead of time is better for your child in general.”

Marko is allergic to almost 10 food substances, including tree nuts, eggs and some food dyes, but he has outgrown three allergies, including peanuts. 

When he was younger, Kinnunen and husband, Steve, kept him away from Halloween.

“He didn’t even trick or treat,” Kinnunen said. “We didn’t even look into what candies he might be able to eat. When he grew out of the peanut allergy, we do trick-or-treat with friends of ours.”

When Marko started trick-or-treating, Leann and Steve would ask the people at each stop if they had any safe treats, but now Marko will ask for them, according to Kinnunen.

“Marko is a big advocate for himself,” she said.

“Halloween [is] actually pretty easy, because I’m always going trick-or-treating with my friend, and I give her the candy that I can’t eat,” Marko said.

Communication between parent and child is important — at Halloween or any other time.

“You should start talking about your children’s food allergies with him or her from day one,” Kinnunen said, who recommends that parents be “matter-of-fact and calm” in discussing the issue in general, and especially going into any new situation like a party or trick-or-treating.

Marko doesn’t look at his food allergies as if they are a big deal, his mother said.

“I just think that everyone had to deal with their own thing, and this is what I have to deal with,” Marko said.

Both Kinnunen and Sikora speak glowingly of the Teal Pumpkin Project, sponsored nationally by FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education), in which homeowners can display special signs to signal parents that safe, non-food treats are available on Halloween.

The program is helpful, because some of the parents are so fearful they don’t even let their children go trick-or-treating,” Sikora said. 

As the holidays arrive, with Christmas parties and family dinners, food-allergic kids and their parents will face other challenges.

“Family members may not believe allergies are real or think a little bit won’t hurt them or they will grow out of it, and here is a big celebration with lots of food … and there are a lot of things your child can’t eat, and [people] are touching or kissing your child,” Kinnunen said. “It is terrifying.”

One problem is a lack of public awareness.

“People in general do not understand food allergies,” Kinnunen said.

And there is a great need for people to be more socially aware and more sympathetic to some of these issues these children have to deal with, Sikora said.

The FARE Walk for Food Allergy will be at Veterans Park in Hoover Oct. 23 at 1:30 p.m. The walk raises money for research and education.

For more information, go to www.kintera.org. For more about the Teal Pumpkin Project, go to www.foodallergy.org.