If you are the parent or legal guardian of a child with a history of food reactivity or a suspected food allergy or intolerance from 0-5 years old and fluent in English, Free to Feed needs to hear from you!
Free to Feed is a biotech company on a mission to help parents navigate their child’s food allergies. They are conducting a survey study to investigate parentally reported food reactivity to understand better the challenges & experiences of parents with food-reactive children.
The Need for More Data
Despite the high prevalence of food allergies and other adverse food reactions, there is a significant gap between the number of parental-reported cases and the number of diagnoses made by healthcare providers. By contributing to this study, you will be helping shed light on the experiences and challenges of families and will help identify strategies and interventions that may improve the diagnosis and management of food reactivity for other families. This study made by food allergy parents, for food allergy parents, will be published in an open-access peer-reviewed journal for all.
Here’s a video by Dr Trillitye Paullin, PhD describing the effort:
What does it involve?
You will be asked to complete an online survey including questions about your child’s food triggers and symptoms, breast/body feeding history, formula use, and allergy testing.
You will also be asked about the timing and severity of reactions, as well as any efforts to reintroduce trigger foods and the outcomes of those efforts. The survey includes questions about your and your child’s medical history, including the use of antibiotics and other treatments or interventions. Participants will complete one survey per child who experienced food reactivity between 0-5 years old.
Each individual survey takes approximately 20-30 minutes but may take longer for complex cases.
How do I participate?
If you meet the inclusion criteria — parent or legal guardian of a child with a history of food reactivity or a suspected food allergy or intolerance from 0-5 years old and fluent in English — please participate in the survey study at www.freetofeed.com/study.
How else can I help?
If you know of others that meet the criteria, please share this article with them and ask them to participate as well. Free to Feed is aiming for a minimum of 1,000 participants and they can’t get there alone. They need the help of our community.
