Food allergies are reported to take an uneven toll on Black children compared to others. Worst of all, the consequences are so serious to these kids and their families that it is devastating.
In 2017, three-year-old Elijah Silvera died due to a food allergy. His preschool, the Seventh Avenue Center for Family Services located in Harlem, fed him a grilled cheese sandwich "despite them knowing and having documented that he has a severe allergy to dairy," ABC News reported.
Instead of calling 911, the preschool called the boy's mother, who was the one that took him to the hospital. Elijah went into anaphylactic shock and died, all because of cheese.
This tragedy paved the way for Elijah's Law, a New York state law requiring preschool and childcare centers to create an action plan to identify kids with allergies and have available emergency protocols when kids get allergic reactions.
Clean environment and healthy food access
Though Elijah's death made Elijah's Law possible and increased the protection children with food allergies get, the tragedy highlighted the growing concern about the problem of children's food allergies, especially among Black kids in America.
In a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published last January, findings stated that an estimated six percent of American children were diagnosed with a food allergy in 2021. And the largest percentage, almost eight percent, was found among Black children.
Experts link the causes of these racial disparities in food allergies and asthma to the same social factors and problems, such as healthcare and healthy food access.
Pediatric allergist and immunologist, as well as the national spokesperson for Allergy & Asthma Network, a patient advocacy organization, Dr. Purvi Parikh, noted that Black families are more likely to live in places with fewer options for affordable healthy food. Processed and unhealthy foods significantly contribute to food allergy development "due to disruption of gut microbiome."
Further, a 2021 study published in the National Library of Medicine discovered that Black kids have a higher risk of having an allergy to shellfish and finfish and asthma than white children due to their higher exposure to cockroaches, as most Black children live in poorer urban communities.
Systemic racism
Melanie Carver, the chief mission officer for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) proclaimed that many of the causes of food allergy disparities between white and colored children are "rooted in systemic racism."
Predominantly racial and ethnic minority communities are being led to settle in areas without sufficient green space and higher levels of air pollution due to discriminatory policies and segregation, US News reported.
"Systemic racism influences social determinants of health such as socioeconomic status, education, neighborhood and physical environment, employment, social support networks and access to health care. When young children are exposed to higher levels of stress, it can contribute to changes in the immune system and lead to allergic disease," Carver expressed.
The AAFA launched its Health Equity Advancement and Leadership (HEAL) program last May 2022 to eliminate racial disparities. The program funds local projects throughout the US to decrease asthma and food allergy hospitalizations and deaths in high-risk communities.
Carver stated that there is an opportunity to focus efforts on the injustice in the environment, education, wealth and income, race, and ethnicity. This opportunity should be grabbed, especially since these factors hugely impact health outcomes.
Moreover, early intervention can also reduce the number of children with food allergies. This can only be made possible through providing access to specialists, especially in Black and other minority communities, who can identify kids' level of risk for food allergy and create a prevention strategy and treatment.
