Bullying affects one in three kids with food allergies, study finds
As if having food allergies isn't hard enough on a child, new research finds at least one-third of kids with food allergies said they are targets of bullying.
Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City surveyed about 250 children with food allergies and their parents and found 31.5 percent said they are subjected to taunts and threats that frequently involve the allergy-inducing food.
Bullying not only caused higher levels of stress for these children and their parents, but could potentially risk a child's life if they have a history of severe allergic reactions to the food they're being taunted with.
"Our results should raise awareness for parents, school personnel, and physicians to proactively identify and address bullying in this population," study author Dr. Scott H. Sicherer, chief of the pediatric allergy division at Mount Sinai, said in a statement.
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Children who reported bullying and their parents were more likely to report a lower quality of life on the survey. About half of surveyed parents said they were "aware" of bullying, and children of parents who said they were aware were more likely to report less stress and a higher quality of life than parents who were unaware of a problem.
The research was published Dec. 24 in Pediatrics.
"Parents and pediatricians should routinely ask children with food allergy about bullying," said study author Dr. Eyal Shemesh, chief of the division of behavioral and developmental health in the department of pediatrics at The Mount Sinai Medical Center. "Finding out about the child's experience might allow targeted interventions, and would be expected to reduce additional stress and improve quality of life for these children trying to manage their food allergies."
Bullying at school or on the Internet -- known as cyberbullying -- has made headlines in recent years as stories emerge of suicides and the severe emotional toll the mean-spirited teasing can have on children.
- Survey finds 63% of children with autism bullied
- Eleven percent of infants' allergic reactions to food are intentionally caused
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"There has been a shift and people are more and more recognizing that bullying has real consequences, it's not just something to be making jokes about," Dr. Mark Schuster, chief of general pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital. who wrote am accompanying commentary with the new study, told Reuters.
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Schuster also told HealthDay that parents themselves could be more understanding of their classmates' food allergies, because they may unknowingly be encouraging bullying. He noted some parents may "roll their eyes" or complain they can't send cookies and other foods to schools because classmates have food allergies, and kids can pick up on this negativity.
Approximately 8 percent of U.S. children have food allergies, according to estimates from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI). Nearly 40 percent of these children have a history of severe allergic reactions like anaphylaxis, which can be life-threatening.
The ACAAI has more information on food allergies.
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Please refrain from stories about "bullying". I'm not alone when I say enough is enough. We are sick of these stories. We've all been picked on, called names, and pushed around. We got over it through support from friends, family, teachers, etc. You people don't even use the word properly. You lump everything that upsets someone into this category. What is next? A law that says if you have nothing good to say don't say anything at all.
What these writers need is a good old fashioned butt kicking!
Bullies are nothing more than abused children with very low self asteem issuies. They choose a person to pick on that is weaker than they are. It gives the bullie an outlet to make that kid as misserable as the bullie themselves are. They get back at their aggressor by being the aggressor.
With that being said, I dont think bullies go around looking for kids with food allergies to Bully!
if I am missing something here...please let me know~
Going to the teachers never helped, bullies are cowards and they will get you after the adults are gone.
Know what worked? Beating the crap out of them. So this is probably going to get me some flak as it is an "uncivilized statement".
So before anyone starts ranting about the "poor bullies deserving better" I tried to avoid fights at all cost, I hated getting into fights as a kid, but when you are faced with 5 bullies incessantly getting on your case, because you are the smallest kid in the school and no other reason. You get marked because they think they can get away with it.
Well one time I was cornered and had no escape, I could simply had them beat on me or fight back. I decided to fight back. I took on 5 bigger guys simultaneously. I did not fight nice, and I pulverized every single one of them.
Next day they sent their biggest and toughest guy after me, the whole school knew this was going to happen, even my friends did not dare to warn me.
Get the picture here, biggest guy in the school sent to pulverize the smallest guy in the school (I was two inches shorter than the tiniest girl).
I even tried to talk him out of it as rightfully so I was afraid. For some reason this did not work, it just gave him the advantage and me a punch in the face. So a fight followed... it lasted 20 minutes, only reason it lasted that long, was the guy was incredibly tough and could take an incredible amount of damage.
The guy did not come to school the following week. I managed to walk away with no damage. After that I was never bullied again. Why? All bullies are cowards, they only pick on the weak and those they think will not fight back.
The moment you fight back they stay away from you. I have yet to have meet one bully that responds to conversation. And I have never yet met one that didn't stop bullying after they had the crap beaten out of them once.
Now am I advocating violence? Certainly not, but I do advocate the right to defend oneself. I really did everything possible to try and avoid fights, but against bullies that just didn't work. They calculate on that fact.
Oh and that last bully that I hospitalized...? He became my friend. Why? I have no idea, all I know was that after being pulverized he started being nice to me and others, at least when I was around?
In closing, based on actual life experience, and plenty of it, I think this is one of the dumbest articles I have ever read.
Problem Solved.
If parents come home drunk every night, then their kids will think that is how they are supposed to behave when they grow up. If the drunken parent beats the child, then the kid will thinnk it is normal to come home and beat the children. When you were a child, if you were beaten for every little mischief, then you would tend to do the same unless you make a concious effort not to repeat it. Same goes with neglect and other forms of abuse. You would feel weird to hug another person if you were never hugged when you were a child. You wouldn't know how to show affection unless you were shown affection when you were a child.
Instead of blaming the bullies, start looking at the adults around them, and you will find the real reason for persistence of bullying. Because bullying exists not just in schools, but it exists everywhere, including workplaces.