Eggs make an easy breakfast?and lunch and dinner. They?re perfect for those days when you don?t have a ton of time to cook but want to make sure that your kid still eats a healthy meal packed with protein and vitamins. But if your child has an egg allergy, not only is this simple meal off the menu but you may also have to avoid a long list of egg-containing foods, from baby food to baked goods. The good news is that some allergic children can tolerate egg when it?s baked, and egg is the most likely food allergy to be outgrown. Here?s what you need to know if your child is allergic to egg.
What is an egg allergy"
An egg allergy occurs when the immune system mistakenly identifies one or more of the proteins in egg as harmful and mounts an attack, releasing chemicals that cause an allergic reaction. Egg contains several proteins in the yoke and white, and kids may only be allergic to certain ones. ?The most allergenic part of the egg is the white, and it causes more serious symptoms,? says Maria Triassi Asper, an allergist at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. The majority of kids (80 to 85 percent) won?t react to egg when it?s baked in foods, such as muffins and cookies, rather than lightly cooked in scrambled eggs and pancakes. ?There?s something about egg being mixed with flour and baked in the oven that changes the protein, so the body doesn?t recognize it and tolerates it,? explains Triassi Asper.
(Technically, the egg-and-flour combination has to be baked a...