濕疹與食物過敏

濕疹是一種香港常見的兒童過敏症，不少家長也為小童的濕疹問題感到非常煩惱。事實上，濕疹除了受遺傳影響，食物過敏亦是其中一項導致兒童濕疹發作的主要環境因素。研究指出，濕疹與食物過敏症皆是由免疫系統失調引起。本港現時約有二十萬兒童患上濕疹，當中約三成病童同時有食物過敏問題；而嚴重濕疹患者中，食物過敏風險更高達七成至九成，可見兒童濕疹與食物過敏症息息相關。

據分析指，目前本港整體兒童食物過敏發病率約百分之五至八，最常見的八種致敏食物為雞蛋、牛奶、甲殼類海產、魚類、小麥、大豆、花生和果仁。專家建議，要舒緩小童的濕疹問題，除了藥物治療，家長亦應了解食物過敏症，透過進行食物過敏測試找出病童的致敏食物，並盡量避免這類食物。

好消息! HK BioTek的Aller-Food Check食物過敏測試在瑞典一項研究中取得第一位!

瑞典的健康網站 Kostkoll 進行了一項延遲性過敏測試的研究，針對五家提供過敏測試的化驗所進行比較。測試的清晰度以及可重覆性，往往影響測試者採用哪家化驗所的決定。

研究人員把兩份相同的血液樣本，以不同的名字編派到相同的化驗所進行測試。當中，三家化驗所化驗相同血液樣本後，竟呈交出不同結果的食物過敏測試報告。研究綜合指出，HK BioTek採用的Aller-Food Check食物過敏測試，是在這次研究中，唯一一個提供可重覆測試結果，同時亦是敏感度最高的。

 Eczema and Food Allergy

Eczema is one of the most common symptoms to food allergy in children.  Dealing with eczema is often a very frustrating and painful experience for both the child and parents.  Eczema can affect people of any age, although the condition is most common in children.  People with eczema often have a family history of the condition or a family history of other allergic conditions, such as asthma or hay fever.  However, heredity may not be the only factor triggering eczema, there is a strong link between patients with food allergy to eczema.  Research has found that both eczema and food allergy are caused by abnormal function of the immune system.

Today there are over 200,000 children in Hong Kong suffering from eczema.  One third of these children have food allergy problems.  The percentage increases to 70 to 90% among the most severe eczema cases.   There is clearly a strong link between food allergy and eczema.

Statistics suggest that there are 5-8% of children in Hong Kong suffering from food allergies today.  The top 8 offending foods include eggs, cow’s milk, crustaceans, fish, wheat, soy, peanuts and nuts.  In order to effectively treat eczema, in addition to applying medication, experts recommend a thorough understanding of your child’s allergic reaction to food or other environmental factors. A food allergy assessment allows you to find a suitable diet for your children, thus relieve the allergic symptoms effectively.

Good News! HK BioTek’s Aller-Food Check Ranked First in Swedish Analysis

The Swedish health and lifestyle website, Kostkoll, recently conducted a comparison of the five food allergy testing (IgG) methods available in the Swedish market. The comparison of these tests focused on two factors:  1) ability to duplicate test results as an indicator of test accuracy;  2) sensitivity of the test.

The comparisons were conducted by sending blood samples to each lab.  Two sets of the same blood sample were sent under two difference names to each company.  Three out of the five companies identified different allergic food items on the first and second test.  Aller-Food Check, which is the test methodology utilized by HK BioTek ranked top among the five methods.  It was the only test that showed completely matching results for the two sample sets, and at the same time, it was also the highest in sensitivity.