Topic Of Conversation

I always find it interesting how many times our daughter's anapylaxis comes up in conversation. People are genuinely interested in it. Surely our forced preoccupation with her allergies is a major factor but when the topic comes up people do not shy away from the discussion. They are typically inquisitive and sympathetic at the same time and seem interested in discussing it at length.

I was reminded of people's interest tonight after reading an article which discussed the fact that food allergy seems to be growing exponentially. That point resonates with people whenever we discuss food allergy - they are not generally aware of this increase. The other thing they are struck by is how little research funding is out there. Though total research seems to be growing, at least anecdotally, the fact remains that food allergy research lacks funding versus other health issues. The Food Allergy Project sums it up well:

"Food allergy research is woefully underfunded. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) spends less than $10 million a year on food allergy research, compared to $107 million on attention deficit disorder and $1.2 billion on diabetes. These are all important diseases that deserve attention."

Whenever we discuss food allergy over dinner or in a group setting, people are troubled by the fact that while many healthcare professionals and scientists concur that there is likely a cure for food allergy, research into a solution is underfunded. Hopefully this will change as awareness builds.