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 to milk, egg, peanuts, nuts, soy, fish and wheat.

What is the difference between allergy and intolerance?

In case of a food allergy  the immune system plays a role, but not in food intolerance. With a food allergy, the immune system goes on the attack and therefore 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, making it often difficult to recognize an intolerance.

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

More and more children have food allergies. 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 come? 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 the other way around.

In scientific studies they have found 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. The immune system of your Mini 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 can get an allergic reaction!

That's why giving your baby allergens early is so important

Most babies get eczema around 4 months. If you then ensure that you simultaneously give allergens in the right way, i.e. through food, your Mini's body will understand that it is "good".

Also for children without eczema it is advice to start early with allergens

For children with eczema, it is important that you 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 egg weekly for 6 months, to prevent your Mini from eventually becoming allergic.

80% of the peanut & egg allergies can be prevented!

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

Early introduction of milk may also have a preventive effect

The above scientific studies have been done on peanuts and eggs, but early introduction of milk may also have a preventive effect.

For example, the conclusion of a study in 2020* is that giving a small amount of cow's milk every day (in addition to breastfeeding) can reduce the risk of a later cow's milk allergy. Further studies have yet to support this, but the first evidence is there.

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

85% of children outgrow milk allergy

Melkallergie is de meest voorkomende allergie bij baby’s. Maar er is gelukkig goed nieuws, want ongeveer 85% groeit over deze allergie heen voor het 5^e levensjaar! Voor pinda en noten is dit slechts 20%.

Hoe weet ik of mijn kindje allergisch is?

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

• By acute reaction here is meant an IgE-mediated reaction, in which a reaction of the immune system takes place. The complaints arise immediately after eating (between 1 minute and 2 hours) and usually consist of:
• skin reactions (especially hives/hives or facial swelling)
• vomit
• red watery eyes
• runny nose
• wheezing inhalation or exhalation.

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

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

Always call the GP or consultation bureau to discuss this and to investigate further if necessary.

Vini Mini: The healthy, easy and reliable way to feed 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 Laurie's son Viggo had a severe allergic reaction when he was 6 months old. Fortunately, by giving allergens early and often, we were able to prevent a food allergy at Viggo.

Vini Mini was born from this, 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 provide allergens to their Mini in a healthy, easy and reliable way. The supplement can easily be added to the vegetable or fruit snack.

First of all, we made a test, in collaboration with a pediatric allergist, to determine which product best suits your Mini. After answering a few questions about age, familial predisposition, previous reactions and eczema; you can see whether it is best to give your Mini peanuts 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 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 the snack of your Mini every week for 6 months.

Start giving peanuts to your Mini now!

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

Do you have any questions; then we are happy to help you! You can contact info@vinimini.nl.

Love,

Laurie & Jozien