Chocolate allergies anyone??

[speechie]

  Help oh help. Anyone have a child with chocolate allergy??
I am not sure my child has one, I'm just realizing that he had a rash on the back of his hands, and cracked/red upper lip twice over the last month, and it seemed to coincide with chocolate...eeek. He LOVES chocolate. I guess I need to eliminate any sources, wait till his skin looks better, than try an ounce of it and see if he reacts.
Any advice, experience???

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Spencer had her very first taste of chocolate the other day (a caramel filled hershey's kiss) started turning red on her face and arms. I was more worried that it was x-contaminated with nuts (waiting for allergy tests on that, she has never eaten nuts) than the chocolate itself. Could it be a contact issue with something? (ie my kids both get rashes from ketchup or dish soap on their skin, but no "real" allergic reactions)  Chocolate is a migraine trigger for me, but again, not an allergy. (thank goodness, just mowed through a choc bar from gymnastics fundraising!!!)

[speechie]

I don't know- his hands looked wind chapped, and the first time I saw the rash, I thought it was because he had been outside too long. But the 2nd  time, he hadn't been outside, and the only difference I could think of was food. And, choolate was what immediately came to mind from that day's intake...

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

hmmm...that's strange, and I know from reading on the toddler food thread that he has such a varied diet that you would think an allergy would have shown up by now. Although my sister was 29 when she became allergic to seafood...so anything is possible. What kind of chocolate was it?

[We Three]

Cathie...Amelia had her first taste of chocolate in November, and a few hours later she was covered in a rash, even her palms and soles were spotted!  It came and went all night, then was gone.  The ped said that a chocolate sensitivity would not present that way, but my homeopath called her bad names for saying that. I was supposed to see the homeopath so he could test her for that sensitivity, but I never did. We won't be having chocolate for a long time.   

When his rash goes away, wait a week or so, then offer him some again maybe? 

[EloysH]

Hi Cathie, 

I don't have any personal experience with that but have read a book that you will probably find extremely useful, probably doesn't give you a solution but at least some information.

Fed up by Sue Dengate, here's her website: http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/.  The author is known for her efforts to lobby the Australian food industry to stop adding preservative 280 to breads because she was able to show a link between it and childrens IQ, concentration span & moods.  So now, none of of breads in Australia contain this preservative .

  Chocolate is a VERY common food to cause intolerances, which is different to an allergy, symptoms show up over time, when a critcal exposure limit is reached in the body. Chocolate is high in amines, which commonly causes migranes, but there are other effects also.   The book explains different foods that cause slow reactions - intolerances and how food can effect kids behaviour.

Foods that cause intolerances can be grouped into:
   
- amines
- preservatives
- Artifical flavours
- glutamines
- salicylates
- artifical colours
- dairy
-suphites
- benzoates
- gluten


The authors recommendation is to go on a diet for a few weeks low in all of the above, then do a series of food challenges with foods from each category to see what you are sensitive to.   What I get from the book is that there is no use in eliminating one food only, e.g. chocolate only, if you are still eating other amine rich or other foods known to cause intolerances. The results of your test will be confounded by the other foods (variables) that could cause intolerances. It sounds like alot of work but the rewards sounds amazing.  There are also recipe suggestions and shopping lists in the book.

HTH

Eloise

[speechie]

Wow thanks for that amazing info!
It will be a lot of work to elminate some of those foods (dairy in particular), but I may need to try it!
Anne- eek to the all over body rash- at least this was located only to the hands/lips.
Heidi- you are right on when you say Nick has a varied diet- he's an experimental/experiential eater- that's why it is hard for my to pick out what could cause the reaction.
I guess I need to call it a chocolate intolerance, then and try to sort it out some more...It may be other ingredients, then, that are in the chocolate. I can't even remember what kind of chocolate it was both times. I know once it was a girl scout cookie- chocolate/peanut butter type. He eats peanut butter fine- never a reaction. ONly other thing that shows up as a problem, is red food dye- which made him oh so scary hyper. DH gave him a bright red frosted cookie- ick. And WOW- scary. No more of that!

[Mama2boys]

Hey Cathie,

Have you checke diwth the doc if its exzema (sp?). DS has had a similar state on his hands since Friday, and spoek to the doc who said waita nd then finally yetserday took him over and its exzema. Not sure how or why or what due to but have elimiated sanitizer and keepinga  clos etab on what he washes hands with.
if ist essentially the hands I'd say its a recation to something tocuhed rather than eaten, but I am no expert.

Hugs to you and Nick.
Mukta

[squeakersmum]

Hi just thought I'd add my tuppence!

My mum, youngest sister, aunt and grandma are all intolerant to chocolate.  Mum, gran and aunt all get debilitating migranes with it and my sister used to have really bad stomach pains and was sometimes sick/had diarrhoea (sp?).  When mum cut it out of their diet all symptoms go away.

Interestingly not sure if it's still the case but our vet (yes, vet!) said that chocolate was actually poisonous for dogs.  So not surprising that we humans can have a reaction to it!!

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

It's the theobromine (a stimulant found in cocoa beans) that can be toxic for dogs...and not all dogs either, depends on the size of the dog, it's sensitivity to it and the kind of chocolate ingested.  Interestingly onions, garlic and grapes can all be toxic to dogs too!

I try to avoid red food dye for the kids too, that is crazy stuff! Spencer has weird reactions all the time that we are never quite sure what they are from. I suspect she is intolerant to dairy, but her diet is also so varied that I feel without allergy testing to point us in the right direction we might never pinpoint things. Eggs & penicillin are the only clear cut reactions she has had so far.

[squeakersmum]

That is interesting because although I can eat chocolate (phew!), I get really bad migrane style headaches if I eat red or spring onions!  Maybe it's a family theobromine intolerance!

[EloysH]

I think its the amines which cause the migranes, not 100% though

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

The reason it is toxic to dogs and not people is that we break it down faster and get rid of it.

Have you noticed the rash any more Cathie? Does Nick have sensitive skin otherwise? I can hardly use any products on the kids as they get rashy from them. Unscented everything here, and I still have not found a bubblebath that they can both tolerate.

[speechie]

his hands are clear- he still has redness along his top lip-
now his nose is running AGAIN and his cough is back?
Geez- could this just be a prolonged viral reaction rather than a food reaction?
I'm stumped.

[scarlettsmom]

Cathie - how's he doing?  Is his runny nose/cough gone yet, or still hanging around?

((hugs))