Living Without Exposes FAAN’s Duplicity on Corn Allergy? Well, a Little…
There is an article at Living Without – a pretty good magazine dedicated to those of us living with food restrictions due to immunological issues about corn allergy and FAAN. As some of you are aware, I have major issues with FAAN.
If you suffer from an allergy outside of the Top 8, I suggest you respond to this article – and make whomever you can aware. Munoz and her cohorts are doing more damage than good with their emphasis on the Top 8 allergens. Allergy is a very personal disease, and not much can be generalizable.
This is my letter to Living Without:
FAAN has done more damage than good with their emphasis on the top 8 for anyone suffering from an allergy outside the Top 8. I am anaphylactic to popcorn – and possibly corn oil. The allergy is IgE mediated – not an intolerance.
Before FAAN, it was possible to get companies to work with you if you had an allergy to something outside of the top 8. Today, you will get a pat answer that “corn is not an allergen according to FAAN and the FDA,” from companies. Oh, and if you contact FAAN they will say it is the FDA, contact the FDA, and they say they get their information from FAAN. Also, it would be wise to trace the money that supports FAAN – one of their major corporate sponsors is KRAFT, which is known to put corn in absolutely everything.
The lack of transparency caused by FAAN’s insistence on only focusing on the Top 8 is not exclusive to corn allergy. I have seen it come up with rice (common among Asians), lettuce, and a number of other less common allergens. Again, companies that used to be cooperative quote FAAN guidelines as if they were gospel. They simply are not!
I was also a participant in the very, very flawed study out of Tulane. The placebos used (peaches) are known to have the highest cross-reactivity with corn according to European researchers. I am also allergic to lentils and should have been excluded from the study due to my already diagnosed issues. Despite becoming progressively more ill from the tests – including throwing up on the first challenge – they allowed me to continue until I spent an entire night very, very sick with food poisoning like symptoms. I was told I did not react. I suggest they read the PDR (Physician’s Desk Reference) to learn about allergic reactions.
The Tulane study was underwritten by corn growers and manufacturers. It is nice that they are saying it exists but is rare – but I am running into more and more people who are getting diagnosed with corn allergy in real life – not just in the online community.
Munoz has betrayed everyone who does not fit her definition of what allergy is. The Europeans – because they do not rely on corporate sponsorship – are much further ahead in studying, treating, and recognizing every immunological disease, including allergy. They and the Canadians have long recognized that maize is in the top 12 allergens world- wide.
So, what do you think the real reason largest growing lobby’s main crop not being recognized as a major allergen is? Watch the Farm Bill debate and tell me that there isn’t a lot of money in making sure that corn is never recognized as an allergen within the USA.
I am tired of this fight. But, unlike some other fights I pursue, I don’t have a choice whether to fight it or not. Hidden corn is everywhere. food manufacturing practices allow for its uses without any type of labeling whatsoever. They can inject meats with corn syrup and dextrose (in the USA this is always corn-based) without any labeling because the injection is considered part of the manufacturing process. Same with a corn-based citric acid wash.
As to those who holler “no proteins left”! After the pet food disaster, do you really trust manufacturers? I sure don’t.
The scariest part? Even unprocessed organic and “natural” foods can be “minimally” processed with corn-based substances.
I rely on the farmer’s market, Whole Foods, Kroger’s Organic, and Trader Joe’s for most of my shopping. Even with those trusted companies, I have, on occasion gotten very ill from accidental exposure.
I don’t even want to go into the issues around medication! No ingredients have to be labeled and almost all medications have corn-derived fillers.
But, the Farm Subsidies to one of the most soil-damaging crops around (seed corn – not sweet corn) keeps increasing each and every time a new Farm Bill is passed. Monsanto and ADM are mighty powerful companies with politicians in their back pocket.
14 Responses to “Living Without Exposes FAAN’s Duplicity on Corn Allergy? Well, a Little…”
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Thanks for fighting this fight. I received my 1st issue of Living Without with this aforementioned article. It confused me because corn was not mentioned and also because it seemed to not give allergies the importance it needed, calling many, just intolerances. I have had a known corn allergy since I was age 13. Eating popcorn, candy corn, and corn chips at a party just about killed me with a severe asthma attack. Just want to say keep fighting the fight. We appreciate it.
I certainly sympathize with you. I am not corn allergic but I am corn intolerant, wheat intolerant and shellfish allergic. I am only writing this because my intolerance to corn is getting close to life threatening. Through a chain of events I have discovered that corn products raise my blood pressure slightly and the more small corn amount ingredients the higher my pressure goes. It was sure a shock to find out that this was my problem regarding my blood pressure. And I like you, am petrified if I need emergency medical treatment. It is very sad that big companies influence our government to the point that the individual cannot protect themselves from harm. Good Luck!!!
I also sympathize. I have a recently discovered intolerance to corn, wheat, rice, mustard, yeast, and 5 other culprits. Corn is probably the toughest to try and substitute. I have known for years that something was not right with my body – every time after eating, my abdomen would distend greatly. I still get the distention because I am just beginning to try a new diet and am finding it difficult. Within the past 2 years I have started having chest pains. I had an echocardiogram and was discovered that my heart was enlarged and one of the valves was leaking. The swelling has now decreased but I still occasionally get the chest pains. I am now 36 years old and believe that the pains are related to the food intolerances and because I have never dealt with them (because they were unknown) they are starting to take a toll on other parts of my body which I think will probably become more life threatening if I do not change my diet. I would like to see the FDA require that Corn be listed as an allergen on food / drink labels and also I would like to see Corn as one of the MAIN allergens (I don’t understand why it is not). Corn is in everything and I think it is far more serious than people know and are taking it. My doctor / doctors have never suggested food intolerances as the culprits but it is my belief – I do not have a lot of faith in any doctors of any particular practice. It took my a long time just to find a doctor who tested for food allergies – imagine that. And once my results were returned, my doctor did not even talk to me about alternatives or offer any help or guidance on the issue so I am trying to do this on my own and find my own information.
I too am disturbed by the lack of information about corn allergies and applaud you for taking on FAAN about this. As I have been allergic to corn for 23 years, I was surprised that one of my newest “finds” of corn ingredients was vanilla extract. Here I thought that desserts were too rich for me as a I aged when–BY MISTAKE–I found out that the alcohol itself in many brands is made from grain alcohol, specifically CORN. I wasn’t buying vanilla extract that was labeled with “corn syrup” thinking I was doing a good thing and it didn’t even occur to me that the corn in the alcohol was causing me to react. Thank you for your help with FAAN.
I was diagnosed with my corn (and soy, peanut and egg) allergy (not intolerance) 5+ years ago. I took the drugs they prescribed and while they helped my allergies, the rest of my body fell apart. I got sicker and sicker and sicker until finally I was unemployed and had no life but was so drugged up I didn’t know what I was doing. Finally I stopped taking the drugs and started getting better and better and better. Unfortunately the allergies are still there and while I was always very careful about what I ate, it is sooooo hard. To have it further compounded by people (doctors, food & personal care manufacturers, government agencies and agencies that are SUPPOSED to help the CONSUMER) telling me there is no such thing as a corn allergy is enough to make me cry at times and I’ve felt so all alone with this.
I went to ER 3 weeks ago because I couldn’t breathe. It was their opinion that I had an unexplained severe asthma attack. Of course I was given more drugs of which I was told there are NO SIDE EFFECTS. Of course they had SEVERE SIDE EFFECTS. Now in trying to figure out what caused this, I have since discovered my “100% orange juice” has corn in it. My vitamins (manufactured by a company owned by a big pharmaceutical company) have corn and soy in them. My jar of organic face cream has corn in it.
I want you to know I support what you are doing to publicize that corn allergy is real and we are people that should be protected as well. Now that I’m not running around in a drugged stupor I will be doing all I can to let people know that corn allergies exist!!
I am not allergic to corn but I do feel for those who are because my wife is allergic to shell fish and I have seen what mistakenly eating some of it can do to her. I do not however trust any of the big maufadtures or major companies because all they are interested in is making BIG money and they don’t give a hoot how they make it or who gets injured as long as their profit margin continues to go up. In my opinion, money is the major cause of most of the illnesses in this country due to the greediness of the major corporations and their quest for money.
Thank you so much for this post. My daughter has asthma and reflux and it took me 3 years to figure out that corn is most likely a problem in addition to dairy and soy and nuts and artificial food colors. One reason is that I never looked beyond the top 8 until I began to notice that she would always have a bad night of reflux following eating corn or corn chips. And I had no idea about FAAN’s KRAFT funding. Thanks for that tidbit. I’m a big believer in following the money where it comes to research about food allergies and intolerances.
Living Without Exposes FAAN’s Duplicity on Corn Allergy? Well, a Little…? Seriously? I was searching Google for side effects of allergy and found this… will have to think about it.
[...] allergen. One concerned corn allergic blogger who dug deeper into the matter suggests in his post that it’s because Kraft Foods Inc., a major donor to FAAN, uses corn in their products. [...]
Living Without Exposes FAAN’s Duplicity on Corn Allergy? Well, a Little…? Seriously? I was searching Google for wheat allergy symptoms and found this… will have to think about it.
Wow what an article! I had no idea about the problem with corn being ignored . I know that one of my little one’s food allergies , mustard seed is definetly ignored. I thought it was just the mustard that was being ignored. I ran into a problem when I tried to tell FAAN that after mychild’s severe mustard allergic reaction at age3 that I would like to have some info re this they had basically zilch to offer. They did not recognize it as it was not in the top 8 as you mentioned similarly with your corn issue. Although I even pointed out that ALL of Europe has listed it in their top 12 Major Allergen List . They still said nothing helpful. IO even offered to send oodles of data re and they said that they would have to run it by their doctors etc. This was 2 1-2 yrs ago. I called the FDA not much luck there either.It takes an act of Congress is what one said to me. My letter was replyed with a letter sdaying spices were not considered as an allergen . How is it that 26+ countries of EU inc Eng Ire Scot.. France etc…. and now Canada in 2010 consider mustard to be severe enough to be listed #4 behind peanut in children and yet our wonderful country (whom must label mu if exporting by the way) does not have the power to protect its’ own consumers here in USA for severe mustard allergens? I hope that parents and non parents never have to be surprised like our child’s anaph reaction caused us to be. We thought peanut was the only worry and had none for 2 years in the home. The miniscule amount of mustard touched plain pretzel and caused a near fatal reaction . I had just been given an epi jr. which we used and it saved her life according to paramedics who arrived after. It is time testing is done for more than 8 allergens at least 12 as Eu and then some. Labels should reflect true allergy barometers in this country and not what is perceived as comfortable for the big companies. God Bless and Hopefully the changes will come to be on the same page with the rest of the civilized countries.
My daughter is SEVERELY allergic to corn.The reason, I believe, for the unwillingness to address the growing corn allrgy problem is because a majority of the US infrastructure is corn based. The US produces more than half of the world’s supply of corn. The US has incorporated corn into thousands of products in order to a) keep cost down and b) claim “all natural” and “green” because of plant based material.
I am a chef and have been serving people with food allergies for many years. I have not come across many people with a corn allergy but there have been a few. I find this very difficult to accommodate since corn IS in almost every manufactured food, even more than soy. I also find it difficult to get manufacturers to provide concrete information on corn ingredients. I am looking for a reliable ingredient list that provides information on corn derivatives so I can have it handy for the next guest requesting corn free foods. Anyone have a suggestion?
The problem with lists of corn derivatives is that they are ever evolving. Sometimes labels don’t list corn, because corn is found in the production process. Having said that, http://www.cornallergens.com has a really extensive list. We are still learing about what to avoid. Our main problem has been that my daughter’s elementary school loves to pop popcorn – which causes severe asthma attacks. She has a 504 in place and it was suggested that I check her out of school when they are popping popcorn. I went to the PTO and threw a fit, but I do know that if my daughter had a severe peanut allergy, there wouldn’t be any arguments at all.