FRIDAY, Sept. 21 (HealthDay News) -- It is vital that food allergies be recognized, diagnosed and treated, but some children are falling through the cracks, according to a new study.

Clinicians must teach parents and caregivers to recognize non-visual symptoms of severe allergic reactions, and children should receive allergy testing so their condition can be managed properly, the researchers said.

"Every child with a food allergy should be diagnosed by a physician, have access to life-saving medication such as an epinephrine autoinjector and receive confirmation of the disease through diagnostic testing," study lead author Dr. Ruchi Gupta, associate professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said in a university news release. "Not all children are receiving this kind of care."

The researchers conducted an online survey of U.S. households with children who had symptoms of mild to severe food allergies.

The survey found 70 percent of the children received a physician's diagnosis for their food allergy. However, 32 percent of these kids did not receive diagnostic testing, such as a blood, skin or oral food challenge test.

Minority children and kids from low-income families were more likely to have untreated food allergies, the study found.

Of the children who received diagnostic testing, 46 percent had a skin test and 39 percent had a blood test. Just one in five of those surveyed reported that their child received an oral food challenge test, which is considered the gold standard for diagnosing food allergy.

"An oral food challenge might be scary for parents because their child is being fed the allergenic food," said Gupta, who also is a physician at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. "Some physicians think the risks outweigh the benefits, but it is the best tool we have to diagnose a food allergy."

In the survey, 80 percent of anaphylactic reactions to common triggers such as eggs, finfish, milk, peanuts, sesame, shellfish, soy, tree nuts and wheat led to hives, puffy eyes or lips, and eczema. During severe reactions, 40 percent of cases involved hives and 34 percent involved puffy eyes and lips.

Some children with food allergies, however, will not develop obvious or visual symptoms, the researchers pointed out.

"Not all food allergy reactions start with swelling or a rash," Gupta said. "If you suspect your child has eaten something they're allergic to and you don't see a visible sign of a reaction, you need to think about what might be going on internally."

Children who may be having an allergic reaction to food should be asked if they are experiencing tightness in their throat, trouble breathing or stomach pain, the authors advised. Children having an allergic reaction also may feel dizzy or faint.

"This study shows why it's vital that children receive an accurate diagnosis, and that parents and other caregivers know the signs of a severe reaction and are equipped to respond immediately," Mary Jane Marchisotto, executive director of the Food Allergy Initiative, which provided financial support for the study, said in the news release.

The study was published online in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

More information

Families can visit the Food Allergy Initiative to learn more about food allergies  .

THURSDAY, Sept. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Blocking two particular biological processes might help provide relief to people with asthma, according to a new study.

The University of California, San Francisco-led team found that a specific calcium-activated chloride channel called TMEM16A plays a role in the severity of asthma. The channel regulates airway secretions and smooth-muscle contraction: the major factors that lead to an asthma attack.

"Maybe if we could inhibit both of these processes by blocking this one channel, then we could affect the two symptoms of asthma," study senior author Jason Rock, an assistant professor at the UCSF anatomy department, said in a university news release.

People with asthma have a higher-than-normal number of mucus-producing cells in the lining of the airway tubes that lead to the lungs, and they also have an abnormal amount of smooth muscle surrounding the airway tubes. The slightest stimulus can cause the tubes to contract.

"The overabundance of mucus plugging the airways combined with hyper-contractility of the smooth muscle -- when the tubes get really small -- make it difficult to move air in or out," Rock explained. "A lot of people equate that with breathing through a straw."

In laboratory tests, the researchers identified three chemicals that inhibited the activity of TMEM16A and led to reduced mucus production and smooth muscle contraction.

The study was published Sept. 17 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The next step is to test the safety and effectiveness of these chemical blockers in animals, the researchers say. If that goes well, human clinical trials could follow.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more about asthma.