does not indicate any disease or intolerance. There is no scientific evidence showing these tests provide valid results, which is why these tests are not covered by health insurance. If you limit your child’s diet based on these results, you might end up removing numerous healthy, safe foods from your child’s diet for no reason. The Risks of Unnecessary Food Avoidance or Elimination The most immediate consequences of over-testing for foods and misinterpreting results are the restrictive diets that can impact a child’s growth, and the increase in parental anxiety about feeding their child overall. When an infant’s immune system is not being exposed to a variety of foods before the first year of life, it can increase the risk of developing an allergy to that food. This includes avoidance of a food that the child had eaten safely previously. A food that their immune system tolerated due to regular exposure can then become something the immune system has an allergic reaction to after a few months of strict avoidance. Eat Early, Eat Often The best advice for parents who want to be proactive about decreasing their child’s risk of developing food allergies is simple. By 6 months old, start introducing mashed-up foods like egg, peanut, and tree nuts, but introduce them one at a time and space new foods But unnecessary or broad food panel testing also carries a severe, counterintuitive medical risk: it can actually induce severe, life-threatening anaphylaxis to a food the child previously tolerated or likely would have tolerated. 108 Hawaii Parent NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2026
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