What is a food allergy?

With a food allergy, your immune system reacts to the proteins in certain foods. These proteins are called allergens. The most common food allergies in children in the Netherlands are for milk, egg, peanut, nuts, soy, fish and wheat.

What is the difference between allergy and intolerance?

At a food allergy the immune system plays a role and not in food intolerance. In a food allergy, the immune system attacks and that is why you usually get symptoms soon after eating the food.

Intolerance is a collective term for reactions to food that are not allergic in nature. For example, lactose intolerance, where the body has difficulty digesting milk sugars; and gluten intolerance (celiac disease). Complaints that occur here are often stomach and intestinal complaints and can sometimes only occur much later, which often makes it difficult to recognize an intolerance.

Number of children with food allergies has doubled in the past 10 years

More and more children have a food allergy. About 7% of all children in the Netherlands have a food allergy and this number has even doubled in the past 10 years!

But how does this happen? There are several elements that can influence the development of a food allergy.

Eczema is the biggest risk factor for developing a food allergy

Many people think that eczema is a reaction to a food allergy, but this is actually the opposite.

Scientific research has shown that children can become allergic through the skin.

So if your Mini has eczema, the allergens (such as a peanut) can enter through the broken skin. Your Mini's immune system does not understand what this is and immediately starts producing antibodies.

If you then give the peanut via the correct route (namely via the gastrointestinal tract), your Mini may have an allergic reaction!

That's why early exposure to allergens to your baby is so important

Most babies get eczema around 4 months. If you then make sure that you give allergens in the right way at the same time, i.e. via food, your Mini's body will understand that it is "good".

It is also advisable for children without eczema to start with allergens early

For children with eczema it is important to start giving peanuts and eggs before the age of 6 months. And for all other children the general advice of the Nutrition Center and consultation bureau is to start giving peanuts and eggs before the age of 8 months.

After that, it is important that you continue to give peanuts and eggs weekly for 6 months to prevent your Mini from eventually becoming allergic.

80% of peanut & egg allergies can be prevented!

Recent scientific studies (EAT, LEAP, PETIT, NL Peanut) show that giving allergens (such as peanut and egg) early and often drastically reduces the chance of a food allergy.

Early introduction of milk may also have a preventive effect

The above scientific studies were done on peanuts and eggs, but perhaps early introduction of milk also has a preventive effect.

For example, a 2020 study* concluded that feeding a small amount of cow's milk daily (in addition to breastfeeding) can reduce the chance of a cow's milk allergy later in life. Further studies are needed to support this, but the initial evidence is there.

Since the protein structure of cow's milk and goat's milk is similar in many respects**, this conclusion could possibly also be made for goat's milk.

85% of babies outgrow milk allergy

Milk allergy is the most common allergy in babies. But there is good news, because about 85% of babies outgrow this allergy by the ^age of 5 year of life! For peanuts and nuts this is only 20%.

How do I know if my child is allergic?

Your child may have a reaction after eating a certain food. There is a difference between an acute reaction and a delayed reaction.

• Acute reaction here refers to an IgE-mediated reaction, in which a reaction of the immune system takes place. The symptoms occur immediately after eating (between 1 minute and 2 hours) and usually consist of:
• skin reactions (especially hives/nettle rash or swelling in the face)
• yield
• red watery eyes
• runny nose
• wheezing when inhaling or exhaling.

• A later reaction will only occur after 2 hours or the next day or even later. This is not a sign of an IgE-mediated allergy, but is of course also very annoying for you and your Mini. The most common complaints are skin rash or stomach ache/cramps.

If you think your child is allergic, you can keep a food diary to see what the reaction might be. Especially if it is a later reaction, this can sometimes be quite a puzzle. Because they often have cramps…

Always call your GP or child health clinic to discuss this and, if necessary, investigate further.

Vini Mini: The healthy, easy and reliable way to give allergens to your baby

We are Laurie Lancee and Jozien Boersma and together we founded Vini Mini. Our world changed when we became mothers; especially when Viggo, Laurie's son, had a severe allergic reaction when he was 6 months old. Fortunately, by giving allergens early and often, we were able to prevent Viggo from developing a food allergy.

From this, Vini Mini was born, because we believe that every Mini has the right to a happy, healthy and carefree life without food allergies.

With our supplements we want to help parents to give allergens to their Mini in a healthy, easy and reliable way. The supplement can easily be added to the vegetable or fruit snack.

First, we created a test, in collaboration with a pediatric allergist, to determine which product is best for your Mini. After answering a few questions about age, family predisposition, previous reactions and eczema; you can see whether it is best to give your Mini peanuts for the first time in three or six smaller steps.

You can start with our my first peanut in 3 (or 6) steps where you give increasing amounts of peanut to your Mini to see if there is a reaction to peanut.

If this goes well, you can continue with our my first peanut Follow-up kit , where you add a scoop of peanut to your Mini's snack every week for 6 months.

Start feeding your Mini peanuts now!

Do you also want to start giving peanuts to your Mini? Then first do our test to see which products are most suitable for your Mini.

If you have any questions, we are happy to help you! You can contact us at info@vinimini.nl .

Love,

Laurie & Jozien