Eating Safely
Please contact the Nutrition Specialist by email at eatsmart@umich.edu if you have a food allergy or require a special diet. She can provide you with additional materials and updates to help you make healthy food choices with confidence. In the Residence Hall Dining Rooms, items are labeled and ingredient information is provided upon request. The following lists are provided for your easy reference:

• Milk Products List (pdf)
• Peanut and Tree Nut List (pdf)
• Seeds List (pdf)
• Shellfish and Fish List (pdf)
• Egg Products (pdf)
• Gluten-free Dining Guide (pdf)
• Ingredient List by Category (pdf)

Common Food Allergies
Wheat
Many people are allergic to wheat. Almost all baked goods, pasta cereals, and gravies contain wheat or wheat products. Seitan (wheat-meat), bran and wheat germ, bulgur (used in Middle Eastern tabouli) and cous cous are all forms of wheat and wheat derivatives.

Ingredients that indicate the presence of wheat in baked goods include: all-purpose flour, bread flour, cake flour, enriched flour, pastry flour, phosphated flour, white flour, semolina, bran, bread crumbs, farina, food starch, modified food starch, malt, and wheat germ.

Corn
Corn allergies are also very common. People allergic to corn must avoid corn in all of its forms. These include cornmeal, polenta, maltodextrose, dextrose, corn oil, fructose and corn syrup.

Gluten
People allergic to gluten often have a disease called gluten-sensitive enteropathy or celiac disease. Gluten is a grain protein that is found at high levels in wheat and in smaller amounts in rye, oats, barley, triticale, spelt and kamut. Labels must be read carefully to avoid gluten. Ingredients that may contain gluten include everything on the wheat ingredient list plus hydrolyzed vegetable protein, rye flour, triticale flour, oat flour, rolled oats, oat bran, barley flour, barley malt, spelt flour, kamut flour and amaranth flour. If you require a Gluten-Free Diet please contact the Nutrition Specialist for our Gluten-Free Guide and other important information.

Milk
Milk allergies are a reaction to the proteins in milk, casein and whey. Common symptoms usually involve the respiratory system or the skin. People with a milk allergy must avoid foods with casein or whey or both. Digestive disturbances from milk products are most often a sign of lactose intolerance. Lactose is the sugar in milk. Some people do not produce enough lactase, the intestinal enzyme that digests lactose. These people need to limit or avoid milk products or take lactase when they eat milk products.

Eliminating milk from your diet includes diligent label reading. Some products that are labeled dairy-free such as soy cheese actually contain caseinate, a derivative of casein. Other ingredients that indicate the presence of milk include butter, casein, cheese, cream, curds, lactose, lactalbumin, nonfat dry milk, milk solids and whey.

Peanut & Nuts
Allergies to peanuts and nuts are also fairly common. Avoiding peanuts and nuts is relatively easy. Read the label to check for peanuts, peanut butter or peanut oil, or the specific nut that causes your allergic reactions.

Sesame butter (made from whole sesame seeds), tahini (made from hulled sesame seeds) or nut butters made from acceptable nuts are good substitutes for peanut butter.

Allergy Symptoms
Symptoms of food allergies may include physical and/or emotional reactions. If you are allergic to something in your diet, you may experience migraine headaches, constipation or diarrhea, or suffer from chronic colds and extreme fatigue. In addition, you may experience mood swings, be unable to concentrate, or feel anxious and depressed.

Food allergies can develop at any time. They should be distinguished from food intolerances, which are common but produce less intense reactions. Food allergies manifest in many different ways depending on which food is involved an how your immune system responds. Symptoms of allergies vary from individual to individual. Often, the culprit is food consumed daily by many people, like wheat or dairy products. If you are concerned about possible food allergies, consult your doctor or holistic health practitioner.

Information from: Twin Cities Natural Food Co-ops.

Disclosure
Listing a food allergy on your medical emergency card is helpful should you ever experience an allergic reaction. This information is then shared with appropriate staff as needed. Telling your roommate is a good idea to help prevent inadvertent exposure to the offending food items. Also tell your roommate if you have emergency medicine and consider instructing them in its use.

What To Do If You Have An Allergic Reaction
If it is a severe reaction:

• Call 911
• Explain the problems ("I have a _______ allergy and I'm having an allergic reaction")
• Tell them where you are
• Administer an epi pen or take medication as prescribed.

If it is not a severe reaction:

• Take medication as prescribed
• If you feel that medical attention would be beneficial, call for non-emergency help at 3-1131

In either case:

• Please follow-up with the dining room staff where you ate the food item that produced the reaction by telling them what happened. This is important so that the specific reason for the inadvertent exposure can be identified and corrective action can be taken as needed to prevent future exposures.
• You may also contact the Nutrition Specialist at 7-2614 and she will follow-up with the dining room staff.

You can also receive non-emergency care at the University Health Service Allergy Clinic, 734-764-8304, on campus.

Other Web Resources
Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network