A leading dietitian based at Epsom General Hospital has been crowned 'Dietitian of the Year' by a national charity. Kristina Zaremba who has been working in the field for the past 28 years, said she was delighted with the accolade, awarded to her by Coeliac UK. The charity supports people with coeliac disease - a condition that affects one in 100 people across the UK.

Hay fever sufferers and people with asthma; beware - peak pollen season is now until late November, according to the latest asthma alert issued by the National Asthma Council Australia. "There is so much hype at the start of spring about pollen-triggered asthma and allergy that many people don't realise that the real danger period is actually late spring and sometimes even early summer," warned Professor John Wilson, National Asthma Council Australia chairman.

Half of all food allergies are not food allergies at all. This is what Cornelia S. Seitz et al., allergologists from Wurzburg University, concluded in a study with 419 patients, as presented in the current edition of Deutsches Arzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2008; 105[42]: 715-23). http://www.aerzteblatt.de/v4/archiv/pdf.

A recent study published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood finds that although most people consider rice to be a "hypoallergenic" food with stomach-settling capabilities, the cereal actually can cause a severe allergic reaction.

Spring and summer are not the only seasons that bring misery to those with allergies. "The end of the pollinating season is good news for everyone with hay fever and similar summer allergies, but those who are sensitive to mold spores may have to wait until the first frost to find relief. Allergy to mold spores can be more of a problem than pollen allergy because mold grows anywhere and is not limited to a single season.

New research casts doubt on government health recommendations that infants and new mothers avoid eating peanuts to prevent development of food allergy. The study, published in the November issue of The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, shows that children who avoided peanut in infancy and early childhood were 10 times as likely to develop peanut allergy as those who were exposed to peanut.

New research casts doubt on government health recommendations that infants and new mothers avoid eating peanuts to prevent development of food allergy. The study, published in the November issue of The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, shows that children who avoided peanut in infancy and early childhood were 10 times as likely to develop peanut allergy as those who were exposed to peanut.

Hay fever, also called allergic rhinitis, causes cold-like symptoms such as a runny nose, congestion, sneezing and sinus pressure. But unlike a common cold, which is caused by a virus, hay fever is an allergic response to indoor or outdoor airborne allergens, such as pollen, dust mites or pet dander. Some individuals have hay fever year-round. Others have episodes of hay fever at certain times of the year, usually in the spring, summer or fall.

Alvine Pharmaceuticals, Inc., today announced proof of concept in a Phase 1 Trial of ALV003, an oral protease therapy in development to detoxify gluten, intended for use by patients with celiac disease. The trial results confirmed that single doses of up to 1,800 mg of ALV003 were safe and tolerable in healthy volunteers. Doses at the 300 mg level achieved up to a 96% reduction of gluten in a meal in the stomach at 30 minutes, and were well tolerated by patients with celiac disease.