August 8, 2023 • 36 mins
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Did you know that many food allergies can be prevented? Early introduction of potentially allergenic foods, such as peanuts, can actually prevent the development of food allergies. Awesome, right?
But how exactly are you supposed to feed a baby peanuts? You aren't - peanuts themselves absolutely are a choking hazard, so you have to use a developmentally appropriate form of a peanut-containing food.
That's where it gets tricky.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan, board-certified pediatric and adult allergist, had the same concerns, so she and her team invented Ready, Set, Food! It's a series of food powders that allows food proteins to be introduced to babies right through their bottles.
On this episode, Dr. Hoyt interviews Dr. Marks-Cogan, and these two allergists/moms discuss early allergen introduction and the Shark Tank-awarded and allergist-approved food product that is helping moms and dads get these foods into babies' diets early and often.
Note: Dr. Hoyt is NOT a paid spokesperson for Ready, Set, Food! and received no financial compensation for this interview.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (00:00):
You hear me talk about early introduction of
foods all the time to helpprevent food allergies.
Well, I'm super excited to haveon the podcast today Dr Katie
Marks Cogan, co-creator of ReadySet Food, which, yes, was on
Shark Tank.
I am not paid to endorse thisproduct.
I have encouraged some of mypatient families to use this
(00:22):
product as a way to get foodallergens into the diet sooner
rather than later, because, hey,four months, that sneaks up on
us right?
Enjoy this episode.
Announcer (00:35):
Welcome to.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (00:35):
Food.
Announcer (00:36):
Allergy and your Kiddo with Dr Alice Hoyt.
The podcast about demystifyingfood allergies, diminishing
allergy anxiety and taking backcontrol.
Let's navigate this challengetogether with evidence-based
information, scientific researchand tried-improven practices.
And now here's your hostboard-certified allergist and
(00:57):
immunologist specializing infood allergy, dr Alice Hoyt.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (01:02):
Hello and welcome to the Food Allergy and
your Kiddo podcast.
I am your host, Dr Alice Hoyt,Joined today by an amazing lady,
an amazing allergist and anamazing entrepreneur.
I am going to let her introduceherself, and I'm so happy to
have you on the podcast today.
Katie, I should call you doctor.
We're both doctors.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (01:22):
Welcome.
Thank you, alice.
It's so nice to be here.
Congrats on this amazingpodcast.
I think it's wonderful to beeducating the world about food
allergies.
Thank you for having me.
Just to introduce myself.
I am a pediatric and adultboard-certified allergist.
I have my own clinic in privatepractice in Los Angeles and I
(01:50):
am a mom of two.
I have a five-year-old daughterand an eight-year-old son.
I'm also the chief allergistand co-creator of a product
called Ready Set Food, which Iknow we'll be talking a lot
about today.
Absolutely, and it's a productto make early allergen
introduction easier for families.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (02:10):
So I want to start by asking what really made
you want to be an allergist?
What was your road to get toget to allergy?
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (02:19):
Yes, good question.
I knew that I always wanted tospecialize, because I'm kind of
one of those people I like toknow a lot about a little bit
right Versus, like an internisthas to know a little bit about a
lot.
So I knew I wanted to dosomething.
I did my internal medicineresidency at Northwestern and
(02:43):
during my second year I hadthought I wanted to do critical
care and pulmonary medicine.
But I sort of changed and mypriorities changed and I wanted
to do something more with adiverse group of patients.
I wanted to do more outpatient.
I just enjoyed all of that andwe happened to have a very good
(03:06):
allergy program there.
Northwestern has an amazingallergy fellowship.
So I got exposed as a residentto the whole program and I fell
in love.
I felt like as an allergist.
You get to be a detective on adaily basis.
You get to work with all agesand you get to do everything
(03:27):
Diagnosis, treatment, prevention.
I loved it.
I had an amazing experience andthat's what led me to pursue
fellowship.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (03:36):
Oh, that's amazing.
Was it there at Northwesternwhere you started having a lot
of food allergy exposure?
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (03:43):
I imagine .
So yeah, absolutely.
I mean I think it's a veryrobust program, to say the least
.
Yes, exactly, they're amazingand in residency.
Even in med school at the timewe didn't know, as much as we do
now about food allergies, so wedidn't get that much education
about it.
So everything I was learningwas new.
(04:04):
I love the immune system it'sso interesting, so fun to learn
about.
So I got that exposure and thenI did my fellowship at
University of Pennsylvania andChildren's Hospital of
Pennsylvania and that's where Igot a lot more of my pediatric
exposure and food allergyexposure.
I worked with Jonathan Spurgle,who's the head of the allergy
(04:28):
program there, who's amazing,such a good mentor, and I
learned a lot and loved it.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (04:35):
That's awesome.
And where are you now, ma'am?
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (04:38):
I am in Los Angeles, in downtown Culver
City, and my husband is from LosAngeles, so that's how I got
over here and it's great Iopened my practice about.
This has been almost five yearsand I see all ages, probably 50
, 50, adult kids.
I love it.
It's so rewarding, it's reallyfun.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (05:03):
Yeah, and the allergy is.
It's just an amazing fieldbecause some of our listeners
might not know, but when youbecome an allergist immunologist
you might come from an internalmedicine or adult medicine
background or pediatricbackground, but as an allergy
immunology fellow you'rerequired to learn about
everybody and that just makespractice, I feel, just so fun,
(05:25):
because you can really take careof people of all ages with a
range of allergic disorders andimmune deficiencies.
It's a spectacular field.
I love it.
I want to dive into Ready SetFood and I would love for you to
tell us you know what led youto create this product.
(05:45):
Sure.
And tell us what it is, ofcourse.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (05:48):
Sure.
So Ready Set Food is an infantsupplement and it's basically
organic food that is placed intolittle mixin packets that can
be used with breast milk orformula, and it's a way to get
(06:11):
allergens into babies early,because we know now that the
science is telling us, and allthe guidelines are telling us,
that we should be starting earlyallergen introduction very much
earlier on than we thought,right, so around four to six
months.
So we know that at that age alot of babies are not eating
solids yet, and even if they are, they're not eating them
(06:34):
consistently.
And so with early allergenintroduction you also have to
have sustained exposure, meaningyou have to eat the foods
consistently.
You can't just introduce onceand then forget about it for
months, right, right?
Dr. Alice Hoyt (06:49):
Let me take a break right here about something
, because this is something thatI talk about with my families a
lot my patient families, as youknow I have.
I see all food allergy patientsthese days at the White
Institute of Food Allergy and somany times families think, oh,
I need to introduce the foodearly to make sure they're not
allergic, as if they'reintroducing it to kind of test
(07:11):
them for allergy, which is notthe case.
I think we as allergists havenot done a good job at marketing
.
What early introduction is?
To a point where, if amarketing firm were working with
us, I don't think they'd evenwant to call it early
introduction, but earlyincorporation, because that's
really what it is.
It's incorporating foods intothe diet at an earlier age than
(07:33):
what we thought, because back inthe early 2000s that
recommendation was made of likeoh, let's avoid some of these
more allergenic foods until theimmune system is ready.
And we know based on evidencethat that was the wrong
recommendation.
And now we have great evidencethat shows it's not just that
early introduction as you'retalking about, but the early
incorporation of thesepotentially allergenic foods
(07:56):
into the diet to grow thetolerance to those foods.
And so I just feel like it.
The whole concept of earlyintroduction has kind of, in a
way, backfired in some familiesbecause they think, oh, early
introduction is to make surethey're not allergic.
Well, what if they are allergicand there's going to be a
problem?
That's really not the concept.
The concept is let's introduceand incorporate the foods early
(08:19):
to help grow the tolerance tothe food, as opposed to waiting.
Tolerance doesn't develop andthen you have the allergy.
Yeah.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (08:28):
Yes, I talk about that a lot in all of
my podcasts and interviews andbeen preaching that since we
first got together.
We like to call it early andsustained exposure.
Nice, right, because it isearly exposure, earlier than we
thought in the past, but thenyou need to sustain it, so you
(08:53):
need to keep it in there.
Like you said incorporate.
Yes, back in 2000, with theAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
actually recommending no milktill a year, no eggs till two,
no peanut and tree nuts tillthree years of age, and that's
what the guidelines had been.
Then, in 2008, they actuallyreversed those guidelines, but
(09:15):
it wasn't really publicized andso I think a lot of physicians,
pediatricians in particular,weren't necessarily aware.
And then when the newguidelines came out in 2017,
because of the leap trial in2015, again, those weren't
publicized as much either.
So it is our jobs as allergiststo help spread awareness, and
(09:41):
two other allergists to the restof the medical community, two
families, to let them know thatit's completely 180.
We know now the safest time tointroduce is actually infancy,
because during infancy, if ababy is going to have a food
allergic reaction, it isgenerally going to be mild.
(10:01):
That's what we see in all ofthe studies the food challenge
studies, the early allergenstudies.
It's going to be a mildreaction and as they get older,
the reaction can become moresevere.
So it's better to get in early.
We also have this ability tomold our immune system towards
tolerance and away from allergy.
(10:22):
So if we can get the gut to seelarge amounts of the allergen,
the protein, then we have abetter chance of creating
tolerance, reducing the risk offood allergy.
So that's the idea.
So I had tried early allergenintroduction with my son
(10:45):
Actually, he was born in May of2015 and the LEAP trial which is
the one that made Bomba famousfor all those listeners that
came out in February, and so Isaid I'm going to do early
introduction.
I tried to plan it all out andit was.
I'm a working mom and, as everyworking mom, or even mom, knows
, that's really hard to do.
And then, a couple of yearslater, my good friend, andy
(11:10):
Lightner, who's one of the otherco-creators, I've already said
food called me after his secondchild was diagnosed with
multiple food allergies at aboutseven months.
And Andy is a really smart guyand he sort of knew about all
the science that was out thereabout early allergen
introduction and started readingand started just thinking like
(11:34):
what could I have done.
Is there anything I could havedone to help prevent this in my
child?
Could we have put allergens insomething Because his son wasn't
eating?
He really, I think, like a lotof kids, they're just not ready
to eat yet, right, right.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (11:50):
Yeah, so I have a five-month-old.
That's exactly right, oh you do, that's right, oh my gosh,
congrats.
So you know it's at five months.
Right, they're not afive-month-old and a
three-month-old who are athree-year-old Sorry, a
three-year-old, a month old.
Neither of them want to eatwhat I give them.
No, I just say three listen.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (12:05):
That's a whole other topic which we can
talk about, and that's my self.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (12:10):
My five-month-old does, does like
to nurse, but okay, you see theissue.
So it's not just a you knowtaking a bottle, but also our
nursing moms, like Some babies,don't want to stop nursing and
that's all they want to do.
And really the nutrition thatcomes from breast milk is
Fantastic and, yes, any otherfoods really are more supplement
(12:31):
to, to enjoy food, the textures, all the good stuff that comes
along with that.
But you're hitting the nail onthe head that there are
challenges that come withIncorporating foods early into
the diet.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (12:45):
Yeah, and so this is.
This is also great forbreastfeeding moms because, as
we know from the studies doingthat, the early allergen
Introduction and sustaining theexposure in the diet actually
had no effect on Breastfeedingin all of the hundreds of babies
and moms that were studied.
So it won't affect the baby'swillingness to breastfeed.
(13:05):
But it will give you an option,if you pump, as a breastfeeding
mom, even one bottle a day, tomix the packets in and Introduce
and keep milk, egg and peanut,which are the most important
childhood food allergens, andthat's why we start with those
in the in the stage one ofready-set food.
You we introduced them one at atime, in a gradual manner.
(13:26):
So a small amount and then alarger amount and we use all the
amounts that were used in theclinical trials and it gives you
an option to just dissolve itin one bottle a day, feed that
to the baby and not have toworry that you're not
necessarily feeding enough, forthe baby doesn't want to eat
enough because you know you'regetting those in early.
(13:48):
And then, as you continue onwith maintenance daily
maintenance of the packets, andthe baby does start eating more,
then we expand on to other topallergens like the trena and
sesame, etc.
And we have other products nowthat help with keeping those
(14:09):
foods in the diet, and you knowwe have packets and oatmeal and
bars and we're coming out withpuffs.
We're trying to think aboutwhat is the easiest way for
parents to keep these allergensin the diet, and you know what
makes life just a little lesscrazy, and so these things can
(14:32):
help.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (14:32):
We know, you know it's safe, we know we know
it's the right allergens and solet's go to the allergens, katie
, that you said, tell us aboutthe system, the first part of
the system, and then the otherAllergen in the second part of
this.
So Absolutely.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (14:48):
Stage one is about 12 days long and the
first four days are milk,starting with a small dose of
milk going to a larger dose andit's a powder and it's in the
packet and the packet it's verypowder.
Yes, it's a powder, it's a mixin and little packets and it's
literally just food.
It is just organic egg powder,organic milk powder and and
(15:13):
organic peanut powder.
There are no Additives, there'sno sugar, there's no
stabilizers.
It is literally just thepowders, and in the exact
amounts that we Know are theright amounts to be introducing
and how do you?
Dr. Alice Hoyt (15:30):
I'm gonna interrupt you so many times, I
don't mind that I think ourlisteners are are wondering how
do you, are you good?
Okay, yeah, how do you maintainthe quality?
You're saying that you makesure that's the right amount of
these organic products.
How do you make sure thatthat's that?
What a mom is opening up inthat packet is what's in that
(15:52):
packet.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (15:53):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, you know, one thing is,as parents ourselves, we have
used these products.
Announcer (16:03):
So not only you know it's.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (16:05):
It's important for us because we can
relate.
So the health and wellness ofthe babies is the most important
thing.
We have a very Good third-partyPost-production that we use to
ensure that all the productshave the required amount of
(16:26):
allergen that we want.
And it's specifically that whenwe say allergen, for the
listeners that that's proteinright, because the allergen is
actually a protein.
So we're measuring the amountsof protein and we want to make
sure that the levels areconsistent with with the you
know the dosage levels that wewant.
(16:47):
So, yes, so we that's.
That's a big part of what we do.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (16:52):
That's wonderful , and so you were listing before
I so rudely interrupted you,that's right.
Announcer (16:57):
You're.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (16:58):
Listing the allergens and describing the
system.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (17:02):
Yeah.
So stage one is again we dosequential Introduction, so milk
and then egg and then peanut,so four days of each that get
added on.
So the first four days are milk, the next four days are egg
plus the milk that's alreadythere, and then the last four
days are peanut plus the egg andmilk.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (17:21):
So if there is a reaction, you know exactly
which allergen it's to and doesthe mom have to or dad have to,
open in separate packets or allthat when the allergens they're
mixed together in that that noeach packet is.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (17:37):
Each packet is numbered.
So it is really like Very, veryeasy.
Day one and two.
You see there's a small dose ofmilk.
We even have pictures and then,as the days go on, you'll have.
You'll see, the milk is full,the egg, the peanut, it has all
the days here.
(17:57):
These are the packets, veryeasy to travel with.
Rip it off, pour it in thebottle.
You shake the bottle, itdissolves.
You give it to baby.
So, easy, don't have to thinkabout it, we talk a lot about
less stress and more joy.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (18:11):
That's definitely easy.
Oh, I love that this this willhelp.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (18:16):
I use this on my daughter, so those
are my two kids.
They were so Back then anddidn't talk back to me as much.
But anyway, I'm just kidding,I'm totally kidding, they're
still cute.
So he was the one I tried to doit with and thank God he
doesn't have any food allergies,but it was really hard.
So I had we had this productwhen she was born so I was able
to use it.
(18:36):
I know what it's like also touse it.
So anyway that continues on andthen when they're eating
Consistently, like any kind ofpurees or other foods depending
on if they're do baby ledweaning etc Then they can move
on and expand into the otherallergens.
So then you can get packetsthat look just like that with
(18:58):
tree nuts, specifically almond,cashew, walnut, sesame, wheat,
soy, and then peanut, egg andmilk also.
So everything but fish andshellfish, which we decided that
it would be too difficult andsort of change the flavor and
(19:21):
the babies might not wanna eatit.
Right, right, so tasting likesalmon, a packet like this might
not taste so good.
Yeah, they don't really havemuch flavor, but you can taste
maybe a little bit of peanut.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (19:35):
So we're asking yeah, I want you to talk us
through, if you don't mind, whyyou chose the tree nuts that you
chose, sure.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (19:43):
So a lot of people don't know what tree
nuts are.
Right, tree nuts are the nuts,whereas peanut is a legume.
Even though it has nut in it.
So when we talk about nuts, wemean specifically almond, cashew
and pistachio, walnut, pecan,hazelnut, brazil nut, which are
(20:07):
the ones everyone usually avoids.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (20:09):
The big fun ones that I try to-.
What do my patient call them?
Toenuts?
Oh, they do.
They look like little toes.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (20:15):
They do look like toes, they have a lot
of selenium, which is good foryou, so I try to eat one a day,
anyway.
And then macadamia nuts, pinenuts are sort of in between a
nut and a seed, but those arethe main ones.
And then, when we think aboutthe ones that people are most
likely to be allergic to, cashewand pistachio, which are sort
(20:39):
of go hand in hand, because ifyou're allergic to one, much
likely, very likely, to beallergic to the other.
So that's one right.
So then pecan and walnut isanother pair that we diagnose
commonly, unfortunately, and sothose are really important.
Almond we don't see as manyallergies to almond, but we do
(21:02):
see them, and it's a veryimportant tree nut because it's
in everything, so exposure tothose is very important.
And then obviously the otherone, sesame, is very important.
We're seeing a lot more sesameallergy, unfortunately, which is
why the FASTER Act came out, sothat companies have to label
(21:23):
whether or not they have sesamein their products.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (21:25):
Right, we've talked a little bit about that,
but y'all's products came outbefore the FASTER Act.
So talk a little bit about that, about why you decided to
include sesame, because ofcourse we as allergists have
been seeing sesame allergies.
Hence the advocacy for theFASTER Act back in 2021.
But talk us through sort ofthat decision.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (21:48):
Yeah, I think a lot of our decision
making is literally.
I mean, well, at first it wasus sitting on Daniel's couch
he's the other co-founder with awhiteboard writing down all the
trials and all the ideas thatwe had.
Now we do it in a somewhat moreprofessional manner, but a lot
(22:08):
of it is us sort ofbrainstorming and me, as a
community allergist, talking alot about what I see and what I
hear that parents want.
We also.
When we started the product, wewanted it to be very science
and evidence-based and having ascience team and a really good
(22:33):
professional team to oversee usand give us advice.
And so that's when JonathanSpurgle came to help us and Gary
Rachel Lapsky, who's one of theamazing past presidents of the
Aquati Eye, a great allergistthat was here in Los Angeles,
and others we asked to be thereto help guide us.
(22:56):
And so when we would gettogether and brainstorm I mean
obviously sesame, as youmentioned as allergists we know
so that would come up a lotbecause it's such a hard
allergen to avoid.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (23:10):
There is sesame in so many things and I don't
think people know that if theydon't have to worry about it,
because it's not just like thelittle sesame seeds on the big
map right, it's the sesame flourthat is in so many things now.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (23:24):
Yes, sesame, flour, oil, all of these
things, and it's actuallyprobably is even harder than
some of the tree nuts and peanut.
So anyway, we, because of thatand seeing it and knowing about
that, we had that had to beincluded and so, yeah, and so,
(23:46):
and then again the other mainallergens, and then those can be
given in.
So we have Stage 3.
We have Stage 3 packets you canput in food.
We have an oatmeal that isdelicious and it has all of
those Stage 3 allergens and ittells you how much you should
eat every day to get the rightamount and you just feed the
oatmeal with the allergens.
(24:06):
We also have bars now, as thekids get older, that you can.
You know little snack bars.
Everybody loves bars.
Who doesn't love a bar?
Bars are all the rage, they are.
And then you don't have to bethinking, oh, did I give cashew
butter this week, or did I givetahini, or you know all these
things that it just takes.
It takes that worry and thatextra stress out of it and it's
(24:33):
just great ways and they'rereally healthy.
That's the other thing.
We didn't want to make them toosugary and too additives, right
, so we made all the snacks arehealthy.
The oatmeal is the puffs we'regoing to be making.
Are we actually?
Dimension is so funny.
We have a new partnership withDaniel Tiger, because he has a
peach allergy, yes, and he doesa very good job at educating the
(24:58):
you know, the children andtheir parents about many things,
and so one of them was foodallergies, and so we have a
partnership with them, with youknow, daniel and his friends,
and you know they're on ourboxes and we use it as a way,
another way to spread awareness.
(25:19):
I mean, a lot of what we do istrying to spread awareness.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (25:25):
Right, because you want kids to grow up and not
have food allergies, but youalso want families of kids who
don't have food allergies to beaware of the challenges that our
families with food allergies dostruggle with.
You know I mean you and I talkabout this with our patients all
of the time about some of thestressors that can come along
(25:47):
with, especially back to schooltime right now.
If you're listening to thisepisode now, when it's first
coming out, then it's back toschool time and that can be such
a stressful time for kiddos andfor their parents.
So a product like this not onlyhelps introduce and incorporate
these allergens early to helpgrow tolerance, but it also
(26:10):
raises awareness of food allergy, which, in general, is just so
helpful to people like us and tothe families that we serve.
Dr. Katie Marks-Coga (26:18):
Absolutely .
That's such a good point.
It's not just to food allergyfamilies, but to everyone, and I
want to ask.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (26:26):
I want to ask how do you guys because it's not
claiming to prevent a disease,and earlier on, a couple years
back I believe, there was somediscussion with FDA about how to
really navigate this type of itreally is sort of a new product
, the whole concept of earlyincorporation and here is an age
(26:48):
appropriate way to incorporatethese potential allergens.
Talk us through sort of howy'all navigate that.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (26:56):
Sure, it really is a new space.
It's a new product, but thewhole space is new, right, this
whole allergen introduction andincorporation and sustaining,
etc.
So a lot of things we'relearning along the way.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (27:11):
And to clarify, the FDA doesn't like when
products make claims aboutdisease treatment or prevention
without going through the FDAprocess and in a food, which is
what the product is, that's notgoing to necessarily go through
that type of process, exactly.
So talk us through that.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (27:30):
Yeah, this is an infant supplement, or
you know, that's what it'scategorized, but it's an infant
food, right and on our minds.
And these types of things donot need to go through the FDA.
They do not have to be FDAapproved, right?
So they don't have to gothrough a clinical trial like a
drug has to.
So, as you mentioned, the FDAdoes not appreciate any company
(27:59):
touting claims that theirproduct, you know, will prevent
something.
And we don't do that and wenever have.
What.
The reason we created theproduct is to help families, to
make it easier to find a way toactually get those allergens in.
(28:22):
When you Google the NIHguidelines for food introduction
, they will tell you to try tointroduce allergens within the
first year of life, starting asearly as four years of age,
right Four months, all the infour months.
Oh sorry, four months.
Thank you, I know what you meantbut just to clarify you know
what I meant Four months of ageand all the international
(28:43):
guidelines say the same thing,but then parents look at each
other.
Great, how are we supposed todo that?
We know the science is there,we know that early introduction
and exposure will reduce therisk of food allergies.
But it's how to do it and howto make it easy and busy lives,
and that's what we claim ourproduct does.
(29:03):
We say our product makes iteasier, safe, all of these
things, and with the product itcomes a lot of education.
And you know our goal is tochange public health and I think
we're on the right track.
But we know it's safe, we knowit's easy, convenient, etc.
And so that's how we got aroundall of that.
(29:27):
Nothing about prevention claims.
I mean there's still going tobe babies that develop a food
allergy, right?
Dr. Alice Hoyt (29:35):
Well, and that's what the LEAP study showed that
unfortunately, even earlyintroduction, sustained
incorporation, exposure, somekids it still happens, which is
unfortunate to start with butalso just really highlights that
we don't have all the answersyet and also really underscores
the importance of seeing aboard-certified allergist if you
(29:57):
have a food allergy.
I know so many families whohave come to see me, come to see
some of my colleagues who theirkiddo has had a food allergy
for years but they had neverbeen referred to an allergist
and that's just so heartbreakingto me because it's not just
every year.
Okay, here's your epinephrinolautoinjective prescription.
(30:17):
We have treatments for foodallergies now.
So many times in my practice Ihave a kiddo undergoing oral
immunotherapy and then mom ispregnant and mom has another
baby and mom's wondering okay,how do we make sure that baby
number two doesn't have the samechallenges with foods that baby
number one is having, similarin a way to your experience of
(30:42):
not having the food allergiesbut with baby number one?
Okay, I want to do this.
How am I going to do this Likethis?
There's no easy way to do this.
And then I mean God bless you.
Y'all made a way to make iteasier for families, an option,
a way to help families introducethis, which is amazing.
Announcer (31:02):
And you were on Shark .
Dr. Alice Hoyt (31:02):
Tank I don't know.
Announcer (31:03):
I'm sure that comes up in every interview.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (31:06):
It does you got supported in Shark Tank, so we
did.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (31:10):
It was.
Thank you it was.
That was an amazing, amazingexperience.
We're so thankful to them andespecially to Mark, who has been
with us, you know, since thenthe whole way, still very
supportive and excited aboutwhat we're doing, and it's just
amazing to have, you know,support like that and to just
(31:32):
feel validated that what we'redoing is is the right thing.
So that's been excited,exciting.
But thank you for saying that,you know, with with.
Another good thing about readyto set food is a lot of families
that have one kid that has afood allergy are afraid to bring
the food into the house, right,because they're afraid they're
going to get it.
But when you have these packets, it's much less likely that a
(31:54):
child is going to get into thepacket.
Rip it open eat it you knowthings like that, so you pour it
in the bottle.
The other kid gets the bottle.
You rinse it off, you let youyou know it's easier, I think,
for those food allergy families.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (32:10):
I agree, I agree , and you know we're coming up
to the end of of our interviewand I mean I can really like
talk to you for hours.
We've talked before thisBecause I definitely before I
was going to be okay with any ofmy families trying a product I
definitely wanted to talk to tothe creator of it and it is
absolutely reassuring when theseproducts are created by a board
(32:33):
certified allergist who sheherself has gone through how,
how am I going to do this?
And it's one of the beautifulthings about entrepreneurship in
this country is like you see aproblem and you use your
expertise and grit and, I'm sure, blood, sweat and tears to make
it really become a reality,serving not just your family but
(32:53):
serving other families.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (32:55):
Yeah, yeah, that's very well said.
It is, it is.
It is blood, sweat and tears,but it's so worth it.
You know we are.
I think we're in a specialfield, which is why I mean I
could never imagine like notseeing patients.
You know as much as we do,because it's so special.
We see sort of the immediateright, the immediate
(33:20):
consequences or or the issueswhen we help and treat.
We can see it like the nextvisit, right.
So we, we are satisfied.
It's very satisfying to knowhow much we can help a family, a
patient, you know, with all theother things we do too.
You know allergy shots andasthma and by a lot, all the
(33:43):
things we do and immunescreening and everything but
specifically food allergies.
Right, that's what we're,that's what that's, that's the
the major thing right now in theallergy world and we're going
to keep learning so much moreand we've already learned a
crazy amount.
I always say you're going to bediagnosed with a food allergy.
Now's the best time.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (34:05):
I literally took the words out of my mouth 10
years ago, never, never good butif you're going to have one yes
Now is it, Even compared tolast year, compared to five
years ago.
It's just, it's a wholedifferent ball game.
It's a whole different ballgame, In part thanks to people
like you.
Announcer (34:23):
So thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (34:27):
We'll have to have you back.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (34:28):
I would love to anytime, anytime.
Thanks so much for doing whatyou do.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (34:33):
Oh, thank you.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (34:36):
I'll talk to you soon.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (34:40):
That's the episode.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
Of course I'm an allergist, butI'm not your allergist.
So talk with your allergistabout what you learned on this
episode and visit us atfoodallergyandyourkiddocom,
where you can submit yourfamily's questions.
God bless you and God blessyour family.
You hear me talk about early introduction of
foods all the time to helpprevent food allergies.
Well, I'm super excited to haveon the podcast today Dr Katie
Marks Cogan, co-creator of ReadySet Food, which, yes, was on
Shark Tank.
I am not paid to endorse thisproduct.
I have encouraged some of mypatient families to use this
(00:22):
product as a way to get foodallergens into the diet sooner
rather than later, because, hey,four months, that sneaks up on
us right?
Enjoy this episode.
Announcer (00:35):
Welcome to.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (00:35):
Food.
Announcer (00:36):
Allergy and your Kiddo with Dr Alice Hoyt.
The podcast about demystifyingfood allergies, diminishing
allergy anxiety and taking backcontrol.
Let's navigate this challengetogether with evidence-based
information, scientific researchand tried-improven practices.
And now here's your hostboard-certified allergist and
(00:57):
immunologist specializing infood allergy, dr Alice Hoyt.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (01:02):
Hello and welcome to the Food Allergy and
your Kiddo podcast.
I am your host, Dr Alice Hoyt,Joined today by an amazing lady,
an amazing allergist and anamazing entrepreneur.
I am going to let her introduceherself, and I'm so happy to
have you on the podcast today.
Katie, I should call you doctor.
We're both doctors.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (01:22):
Welcome.
Thank you, alice.
It's so nice to be here.
Congrats on this amazingpodcast.
I think it's wonderful to beeducating the world about food
allergies.
Thank you for having me.
Just to introduce myself.
I am a pediatric and adultboard-certified allergist.
I have my own clinic in privatepractice in Los Angeles and I
(01:50):
am a mom of two.
I have a five-year-old daughterand an eight-year-old son.
I'm also the chief allergistand co-creator of a product
called Ready Set Food, which Iknow we'll be talking a lot
about today.
Absolutely, and it's a productto make early allergen
introduction easier for families.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (02:10):
So I want to start by asking what really made
you want to be an allergist?
What was your road to get toget to allergy?
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (02:19):
Yes, good question.
I knew that I always wanted tospecialize, because I'm kind of
one of those people I like toknow a lot about a little bit
right Versus, like an internisthas to know a little bit about a
lot.
So I knew I wanted to dosomething.
I did my internal medicineresidency at Northwestern and
(02:43):
during my second year I hadthought I wanted to do critical
care and pulmonary medicine.
But I sort of changed and mypriorities changed and I wanted
to do something more with adiverse group of patients.
I wanted to do more outpatient.
I just enjoyed all of that andwe happened to have a very good
(03:06):
allergy program there.
Northwestern has an amazingallergy fellowship.
So I got exposed as a residentto the whole program and I fell
in love.
I felt like as an allergist.
You get to be a detective on adaily basis.
You get to work with all agesand you get to do everything
(03:27):
Diagnosis, treatment, prevention.
I loved it.
I had an amazing experience andthat's what led me to pursue
fellowship.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (03:36):
Oh, that's amazing.
Was it there at Northwesternwhere you started having a lot
of food allergy exposure?
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (03:43):
I imagine .
So yeah, absolutely.
I mean I think it's a veryrobust program, to say the least
.
Yes, exactly, they're amazingand in residency.
Even in med school at the timewe didn't know, as much as we do
now about food allergies, so wedidn't get that much education
about it.
So everything I was learningwas new.
(04:04):
I love the immune system it'sso interesting, so fun to learn
about.
So I got that exposure and thenI did my fellowship at
University of Pennsylvania andChildren's Hospital of
Pennsylvania and that's where Igot a lot more of my pediatric
exposure and food allergyexposure.
I worked with Jonathan Spurgle,who's the head of the allergy
(04:28):
program there, who's amazing,such a good mentor, and I
learned a lot and loved it.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (04:35):
That's awesome.
And where are you now, ma'am?
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (04:38):
I am in Los Angeles, in downtown Culver
City, and my husband is from LosAngeles, so that's how I got
over here and it's great Iopened my practice about.
This has been almost five yearsand I see all ages, probably 50
, 50, adult kids.
I love it.
It's so rewarding, it's reallyfun.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (05:03):
Yeah, and the allergy is.
It's just an amazing fieldbecause some of our listeners
might not know, but when youbecome an allergist immunologist
you might come from an internalmedicine or adult medicine
background or pediatricbackground, but as an allergy
immunology fellow you'rerequired to learn about
everybody and that just makespractice, I feel, just so fun,
(05:25):
because you can really take careof people of all ages with a
range of allergic disorders andimmune deficiencies.
It's a spectacular field.
I love it.
I want to dive into Ready SetFood and I would love for you to
tell us you know what led youto create this product.
(05:45):
Sure.
And tell us what it is, ofcourse.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (05:48):
Sure.
So Ready Set Food is an infantsupplement and it's basically
organic food that is placed intolittle mixin packets that can
be used with breast milk orformula, and it's a way to get
(06:11):
allergens into babies early,because we know now that the
science is telling us, and allthe guidelines are telling us,
that we should be starting earlyallergen introduction very much
earlier on than we thought,right, so around four to six
months.
So we know that at that age alot of babies are not eating
solids yet, and even if they are, they're not eating them
(06:34):
consistently.
And so with early allergenintroduction you also have to
have sustained exposure, meaningyou have to eat the foods
consistently.
You can't just introduce onceand then forget about it for
months, right, right?
Dr. Alice Hoyt (06:49):
Let me take a break right here about something
, because this is something thatI talk about with my families a
lot my patient families, as youknow I have.
I see all food allergy patientsthese days at the White
Institute of Food Allergy and somany times families think, oh,
I need to introduce the foodearly to make sure they're not
allergic, as if they'reintroducing it to kind of test
(07:11):
them for allergy, which is notthe case.
I think we as allergists havenot done a good job at marketing
.
What early introduction is?
To a point where, if amarketing firm were working with
us, I don't think they'd evenwant to call it early
introduction, but earlyincorporation, because that's
really what it is.
It's incorporating foods intothe diet at an earlier age than
(07:33):
what we thought, because back inthe early 2000s that
recommendation was made of likeoh, let's avoid some of these
more allergenic foods until theimmune system is ready.
And we know based on evidencethat that was the wrong
recommendation.
And now we have great evidencethat shows it's not just that
early introduction as you'retalking about, but the early
incorporation of thesepotentially allergenic foods
(07:56):
into the diet to grow thetolerance to those foods.
And so I just feel like it.
The whole concept of earlyintroduction has kind of, in a
way, backfired in some familiesbecause they think, oh, early
introduction is to make surethey're not allergic.
Well, what if they are allergicand there's going to be a
problem?
That's really not the concept.
The concept is let's introduceand incorporate the foods early
(08:19):
to help grow the tolerance tothe food, as opposed to waiting.
Tolerance doesn't develop andthen you have the allergy.
Yeah.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (08:28):
Yes, I talk about that a lot in all of
my podcasts and interviews andbeen preaching that since we
first got together.
We like to call it early andsustained exposure.
Nice, right, because it isearly exposure, earlier than we
thought in the past, but thenyou need to sustain it, so you
(08:53):
need to keep it in there.
Like you said incorporate.
Yes, back in 2000, with theAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
actually recommending no milktill a year, no eggs till two,
no peanut and tree nuts tillthree years of age, and that's
what the guidelines had been.
Then, in 2008, they actuallyreversed those guidelines, but
(09:15):
it wasn't really publicized andso I think a lot of physicians,
pediatricians in particular,weren't necessarily aware.
And then when the newguidelines came out in 2017,
because of the leap trial in2015, again, those weren't
publicized as much either.
So it is our jobs as allergiststo help spread awareness, and
(09:41):
two other allergists to the restof the medical community, two
families, to let them know thatit's completely 180.
We know now the safest time tointroduce is actually infancy,
because during infancy, if ababy is going to have a food
allergic reaction, it isgenerally going to be mild.
(10:01):
That's what we see in all ofthe studies the food challenge
studies, the early allergenstudies.
It's going to be a mildreaction and as they get older,
the reaction can become moresevere.
So it's better to get in early.
We also have this ability tomold our immune system towards
tolerance and away from allergy.
(10:22):
So if we can get the gut to seelarge amounts of the allergen,
the protein, then we have abetter chance of creating
tolerance, reducing the risk offood allergy.
So that's the idea.
So I had tried early allergenintroduction with my son
(10:45):
Actually, he was born in May of2015 and the LEAP trial which is
the one that made Bomba famousfor all those listeners that
came out in February, and so Isaid I'm going to do early
introduction.
I tried to plan it all out andit was.
I'm a working mom and, as everyworking mom, or even mom, knows
, that's really hard to do.
And then, a couple of yearslater, my good friend, andy
(11:10):
Lightner, who's one of the otherco-creators, I've already said
food called me after his secondchild was diagnosed with
multiple food allergies at aboutseven months.
And Andy is a really smart guyand he sort of knew about all
the science that was out thereabout early allergen
introduction and started readingand started just thinking like
(11:34):
what could I have done.
Is there anything I could havedone to help prevent this in my
child?
Could we have put allergens insomething Because his son wasn't
eating?
He really, I think, like a lotof kids, they're just not ready
to eat yet, right, right.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (11:50):
Yeah, so I have a five-month-old.
That's exactly right, oh you do, that's right, oh my gosh,
congrats.
So you know it's at five months.
Right, they're not afive-month-old and a
three-month-old who are athree-year-old Sorry, a
three-year-old, a month old.
Neither of them want to eatwhat I give them.
No, I just say three listen.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (12:05):
That's a whole other topic which we can
talk about, and that's my self.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (12:10):
My five-month-old does, does like
to nurse, but okay, you see theissue.
So it's not just a you knowtaking a bottle, but also our
nursing moms, like Some babies,don't want to stop nursing and
that's all they want to do.
And really the nutrition thatcomes from breast milk is
Fantastic and, yes, any otherfoods really are more supplement
(12:31):
to, to enjoy food, the textures, all the good stuff that comes
along with that.
But you're hitting the nail onthe head that there are
challenges that come withIncorporating foods early into
the diet.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (12:45):
Yeah, and so this is.
This is also great forbreastfeeding moms because, as
we know from the studies doingthat, the early allergen
Introduction and sustaining theexposure in the diet actually
had no effect on Breastfeedingin all of the hundreds of babies
and moms that were studied.
So it won't affect the baby'swillingness to breastfeed.
(13:05):
But it will give you an option,if you pump, as a breastfeeding
mom, even one bottle a day, tomix the packets in and Introduce
and keep milk, egg and peanut,which are the most important
childhood food allergens, andthat's why we start with those
in the in the stage one ofready-set food.
You we introduced them one at atime, in a gradual manner.
(13:26):
So a small amount and then alarger amount and we use all the
amounts that were used in theclinical trials and it gives you
an option to just dissolve itin one bottle a day, feed that
to the baby and not have toworry that you're not
necessarily feeding enough, forthe baby doesn't want to eat
enough because you know you'regetting those in early.
(13:48):
And then, as you continue onwith maintenance daily
maintenance of the packets, andthe baby does start eating more,
then we expand on to other topallergens like the trena and
sesame, etc.
And we have other products nowthat help with keeping those
(14:09):
foods in the diet, and you knowwe have packets and oatmeal and
bars and we're coming out withpuffs.
We're trying to think aboutwhat is the easiest way for
parents to keep these allergensin the diet, and you know what
makes life just a little lesscrazy, and so these things can
(14:32):
help.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (14:32):
We know, you know it's safe, we know we know
it's the right allergens and solet's go to the allergens, katie
, that you said, tell us aboutthe system, the first part of
the system, and then the otherAllergen in the second part of
this.
So Absolutely.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (14:48):
Stage one is about 12 days long and the
first four days are milk,starting with a small dose of
milk going to a larger dose andit's a powder and it's in the
packet and the packet it's verypowder.
Yes, it's a powder, it's a mixin and little packets and it's
literally just food.
It is just organic egg powder,organic milk powder and and
(15:13):
organic peanut powder.
There are no Additives, there'sno sugar, there's no
stabilizers.
It is literally just thepowders, and in the exact
amounts that we Know are theright amounts to be introducing
and how do you?
Dr. Alice Hoyt (15:30):
I'm gonna interrupt you so many times, I
don't mind that I think ourlisteners are are wondering how
do you, are you good?
Okay, yeah, how do you maintainthe quality?
You're saying that you makesure that's the right amount of
these organic products.
How do you make sure thatthat's that?
What a mom is opening up inthat packet is what's in that
(15:52):
packet.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (15:53):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, you know, one thing is,as parents ourselves, we have
used these products.
Announcer (16:03):
So not only you know it's.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (16:05):
It's important for us because we can
relate.
So the health and wellness ofthe babies is the most important
thing.
We have a very Good third-partyPost-production that we use to
ensure that all the productshave the required amount of
(16:26):
allergen that we want.
And it's specifically that whenwe say allergen, for the
listeners that that's proteinright, because the allergen is
actually a protein.
So we're measuring the amountsof protein and we want to make
sure that the levels areconsistent with with the you
know the dosage levels that wewant.
(16:47):
So, yes, so we that's.
That's a big part of what we do.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (16:52):
That's wonderful , and so you were listing before
I so rudely interrupted you,that's right.
Announcer (16:57):
You're.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (16:58):
Listing the allergens and describing the
system.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (17:02):
Yeah.
So stage one is again we dosequential Introduction, so milk
and then egg and then peanut,so four days of each that get
added on.
So the first four days are milk, the next four days are egg
plus the milk that's alreadythere, and then the last four
days are peanut plus the egg andmilk.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (17:21):
So if there is a reaction, you know exactly
which allergen it's to and doesthe mom have to or dad have to,
open in separate packets or allthat when the allergens they're
mixed together in that that noeach packet is.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (17:37):
Each packet is numbered.
So it is really like Very, veryeasy.
Day one and two.
You see there's a small dose ofmilk.
We even have pictures and then,as the days go on, you'll have.
You'll see, the milk is full,the egg, the peanut, it has all
the days here.
(17:57):
These are the packets, veryeasy to travel with.
Rip it off, pour it in thebottle.
You shake the bottle, itdissolves.
You give it to baby.
So, easy, don't have to thinkabout it, we talk a lot about
less stress and more joy.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (18:11):
That's definitely easy.
Oh, I love that this this willhelp.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (18:16):
I use this on my daughter, so those
are my two kids.
They were so Back then anddidn't talk back to me as much.
But anyway, I'm just kidding,I'm totally kidding, they're
still cute.
So he was the one I tried to doit with and thank God he
doesn't have any food allergies,but it was really hard.
So I had we had this productwhen she was born so I was able
to use it.
(18:36):
I know what it's like also touse it.
So anyway that continues on andthen when they're eating
Consistently, like any kind ofpurees or other foods depending
on if they're do baby ledweaning etc Then they can move
on and expand into the otherallergens.
So then you can get packetsthat look just like that with
(18:58):
tree nuts, specifically almond,cashew, walnut, sesame, wheat,
soy, and then peanut, egg andmilk also.
So everything but fish andshellfish, which we decided that
it would be too difficult andsort of change the flavor and
(19:21):
the babies might not wanna eatit.
Right, right, so tasting likesalmon, a packet like this might
not taste so good.
Yeah, they don't really havemuch flavor, but you can taste
maybe a little bit of peanut.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (19:35):
So we're asking yeah, I want you to talk us
through, if you don't mind, whyyou chose the tree nuts that you
chose, sure.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (19:43):
So a lot of people don't know what tree
nuts are.
Right, tree nuts are the nuts,whereas peanut is a legume.
Even though it has nut in it.
So when we talk about nuts, wemean specifically almond, cashew
and pistachio, walnut, pecan,hazelnut, brazil nut, which are
(20:07):
the ones everyone usually avoids.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (20:09):
The big fun ones that I try to-.
What do my patient call them?
Toenuts?
Oh, they do.
They look like little toes.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (20:15):
They do look like toes, they have a lot
of selenium, which is good foryou, so I try to eat one a day,
anyway.
And then macadamia nuts, pinenuts are sort of in between a
nut and a seed, but those arethe main ones.
And then, when we think aboutthe ones that people are most
likely to be allergic to, cashewand pistachio, which are sort
(20:39):
of go hand in hand, because ifyou're allergic to one, much
likely, very likely, to beallergic to the other.
So that's one right.
So then pecan and walnut isanother pair that we diagnose
commonly, unfortunately, and sothose are really important.
Almond we don't see as manyallergies to almond, but we do
(21:02):
see them, and it's a veryimportant tree nut because it's
in everything, so exposure tothose is very important.
And then obviously the otherone, sesame, is very important.
We're seeing a lot more sesameallergy, unfortunately, which is
why the FASTER Act came out, sothat companies have to label
(21:23):
whether or not they have sesamein their products.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (21:25):
Right, we've talked a little bit about that,
but y'all's products came outbefore the FASTER Act.
So talk a little bit about that, about why you decided to
include sesame, because ofcourse we as allergists have
been seeing sesame allergies.
Hence the advocacy for theFASTER Act back in 2021.
But talk us through sort ofthat decision.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (21:48):
Yeah, I think a lot of our decision
making is literally.
I mean, well, at first it wasus sitting on Daniel's couch
he's the other co-founder with awhiteboard writing down all the
trials and all the ideas thatwe had.
Now we do it in a somewhat moreprofessional manner, but a lot
(22:08):
of it is us sort ofbrainstorming and me, as a
community allergist, talking alot about what I see and what I
hear that parents want.
We also.
When we started the product, wewanted it to be very science
and evidence-based and having ascience team and a really good
(22:33):
professional team to oversee usand give us advice.
And so that's when JonathanSpurgle came to help us and Gary
Rachel Lapsky, who's one of theamazing past presidents of the
Aquati Eye, a great allergistthat was here in Los Angeles,
and others we asked to be thereto help guide us.
(22:56):
And so when we would gettogether and brainstorm I mean
obviously sesame, as youmentioned as allergists we know
so that would come up a lotbecause it's such a hard
allergen to avoid.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (23:10):
There is sesame in so many things and I don't
think people know that if theydon't have to worry about it,
because it's not just like thelittle sesame seeds on the big
map right, it's the sesame flourthat is in so many things now.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (23:24):
Yes, sesame, flour, oil, all of these
things, and it's actuallyprobably is even harder than
some of the tree nuts and peanut.
So anyway, we, because of thatand seeing it and knowing about
that, we had that had to beincluded and so, yeah, and so,
(23:46):
and then again the other mainallergens, and then those can be
given in.
So we have Stage 3.
We have Stage 3 packets you canput in food.
We have an oatmeal that isdelicious and it has all of
those Stage 3 allergens and ittells you how much you should
eat every day to get the rightamount and you just feed the
oatmeal with the allergens.
(24:06):
We also have bars now, as thekids get older, that you can.
You know little snack bars.
Everybody loves bars.
Who doesn't love a bar?
Bars are all the rage, they are.
And then you don't have to bethinking, oh, did I give cashew
butter this week, or did I givetahini, or you know all these
things that it just takes.
It takes that worry and thatextra stress out of it and it's
(24:33):
just great ways and they'rereally healthy.
That's the other thing.
We didn't want to make them toosugary and too additives, right
, so we made all the snacks arehealthy.
The oatmeal is the puffs we'regoing to be making.
Are we actually?
Dimension is so funny.
We have a new partnership withDaniel Tiger, because he has a
peach allergy, yes, and he doesa very good job at educating the
(24:58):
you know, the children andtheir parents about many things,
and so one of them was foodallergies, and so we have a
partnership with them, with youknow, daniel and his friends,
and you know they're on ourboxes and we use it as a way,
another way to spread awareness.
(25:19):
I mean, a lot of what we do istrying to spread awareness.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (25:25):
Right, because you want kids to grow up and not
have food allergies, but youalso want families of kids who
don't have food allergies to beaware of the challenges that our
families with food allergies dostruggle with.
You know I mean you and I talkabout this with our patients all
of the time about some of thestressors that can come along
(25:47):
with, especially back to schooltime right now.
If you're listening to thisepisode now, when it's first
coming out, then it's back toschool time and that can be such
a stressful time for kiddos andfor their parents.
So a product like this not onlyhelps introduce and incorporate
these allergens early to helpgrow tolerance, but it also
(26:10):
raises awareness of food allergy, which, in general, is just so
helpful to people like us and tothe families that we serve.
Dr. Katie Marks-Coga (26:18):
Absolutely .
That's such a good point.
It's not just to food allergyfamilies, but to everyone, and I
want to ask.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (26:26):
I want to ask how do you guys because it's not
claiming to prevent a disease,and earlier on, a couple years
back I believe, there was somediscussion with FDA about how to
really navigate this type of itreally is sort of a new product
, the whole concept of earlyincorporation and here is an age
(26:48):
appropriate way to incorporatethese potential allergens.
Talk us through sort of howy'all navigate that.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (26:56):
Sure, it really is a new space.
It's a new product, but thewhole space is new, right, this
whole allergen introduction andincorporation and sustaining,
etc.
So a lot of things we'relearning along the way.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (27:11):
And to clarify, the FDA doesn't like when
products make claims aboutdisease treatment or prevention
without going through the FDAprocess and in a food, which is
what the product is, that's notgoing to necessarily go through
that type of process, exactly.
So talk us through that.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (27:30):
Yeah, this is an infant supplement, or
you know, that's what it'scategorized, but it's an infant
food, right and on our minds.
And these types of things donot need to go through the FDA.
They do not have to be FDAapproved, right?
So they don't have to gothrough a clinical trial like a
drug has to.
So, as you mentioned, the FDAdoes not appreciate any company
(27:59):
touting claims that theirproduct, you know, will prevent
something.
And we don't do that and wenever have.
What.
The reason we created theproduct is to help families, to
make it easier to find a way toactually get those allergens in.
(28:22):
When you Google the NIHguidelines for food introduction
, they will tell you to try tointroduce allergens within the
first year of life, starting asearly as four years of age,
right Four months, all the infour months.
Oh sorry, four months.
Thank you, I know what you meantbut just to clarify you know
what I meant Four months of ageand all the international
(28:43):
guidelines say the same thing,but then parents look at each
other.
Great, how are we supposed todo that?
We know the science is there,we know that early introduction
and exposure will reduce therisk of food allergies.
But it's how to do it and howto make it easy and busy lives,
and that's what we claim ourproduct does.
(29:03):
We say our product makes iteasier, safe, all of these
things, and with the product itcomes a lot of education.
And you know our goal is tochange public health and I think
we're on the right track.
But we know it's safe, we knowit's easy, convenient, etc.
And so that's how we got aroundall of that.
(29:27):
Nothing about prevention claims.
I mean there's still going tobe babies that develop a food
allergy, right?
Dr. Alice Hoyt (29:35):
Well, and that's what the LEAP study showed that
unfortunately, even earlyintroduction, sustained
incorporation, exposure, somekids it still happens, which is
unfortunate to start with butalso just really highlights that
we don't have all the answersyet and also really underscores
the importance of seeing aboard-certified allergist if you
(29:57):
have a food allergy.
I know so many families whohave come to see me, come to see
some of my colleagues who theirkiddo has had a food allergy
for years but they had neverbeen referred to an allergist
and that's just so heartbreakingto me because it's not just
every year.
Okay, here's your epinephrinolautoinjective prescription.
(30:17):
We have treatments for foodallergies now.
So many times in my practice Ihave a kiddo undergoing oral
immunotherapy and then mom ispregnant and mom has another
baby and mom's wondering okay,how do we make sure that baby
number two doesn't have the samechallenges with foods that baby
number one is having, similarin a way to your experience of
(30:42):
not having the food allergiesbut with baby number one?
Okay, I want to do this.
How am I going to do this Likethis?
There's no easy way to do this.
And then I mean God bless you.
Y'all made a way to make iteasier for families, an option,
a way to help families introducethis, which is amazing.
Announcer (31:02):
And you were on Shark .
Dr. Alice Hoyt (31:02):
Tank I don't know.
Announcer (31:03):
I'm sure that comes up in every interview.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (31:06):
It does you got supported in Shark Tank, so we
did.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (31:10):
It was.
Thank you it was.
That was an amazing, amazingexperience.
We're so thankful to them andespecially to Mark, who has been
with us, you know, since thenthe whole way, still very
supportive and excited aboutwhat we're doing, and it's just
amazing to have, you know,support like that and to just
(31:32):
feel validated that what we'redoing is is the right thing.
So that's been excited,exciting.
But thank you for saying that,you know, with with.
Another good thing about readyto set food is a lot of families
that have one kid that has afood allergy are afraid to bring
the food into the house, right,because they're afraid they're
going to get it.
But when you have these packets, it's much less likely that a
(31:54):
child is going to get into thepacket.
Rip it open eat it you knowthings like that, so you pour it
in the bottle.
The other kid gets the bottle.
You rinse it off, you let youyou know it's easier, I think,
for those food allergy families.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (32:10):
I agree, I agree , and you know we're coming up
to the end of of our interviewand I mean I can really like
talk to you for hours.
We've talked before thisBecause I definitely before I
was going to be okay with any ofmy families trying a product I
definitely wanted to talk to tothe creator of it and it is
absolutely reassuring when theseproducts are created by a board
(32:33):
certified allergist who sheherself has gone through how,
how am I going to do this?
And it's one of the beautifulthings about entrepreneurship in
this country is like you see aproblem and you use your
expertise and grit and, I'm sure, blood, sweat and tears to make
it really become a reality,serving not just your family but
(32:53):
serving other families.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (32:55):
Yeah, yeah, that's very well said.
It is, it is.
It is blood, sweat and tears,but it's so worth it.
You know we are.
I think we're in a specialfield, which is why I mean I
could never imagine like notseeing patients.
You know as much as we do,because it's so special.
We see sort of the immediateright, the immediate
(33:20):
consequences or or the issueswhen we help and treat.
We can see it like the nextvisit, right.
So we, we are satisfied.
It's very satisfying to knowhow much we can help a family, a
patient, you know, with all theother things we do too.
You know allergy shots andasthma and by a lot, all the
(33:43):
things we do and immunescreening and everything but
specifically food allergies.
Right, that's what we're,that's what that's, that's the
the major thing right now in theallergy world and we're going
to keep learning so much moreand we've already learned a
crazy amount.
I always say you're going to bediagnosed with a food allergy.
Now's the best time.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (34:05):
I literally took the words out of my mouth 10
years ago, never, never good butif you're going to have one yes
Now is it, Even compared tolast year, compared to five
years ago.
It's just, it's a wholedifferent ball game.
It's a whole different ballgame, In part thanks to people
like you.
Announcer (34:23):
So thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (34:27):
We'll have to have you back.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (34:28):
I would love to anytime, anytime.
Thanks so much for doing whatyou do.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (34:33):
Oh, thank you.
Dr. Katie Marks-Cogan (34:36):
I'll talk to you soon.
Dr. Alice Hoyt (34:40):
That's the episode.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
Of course I'm an allergist, butI'm not your allergist.
So talk with your allergistabout what you learned on this
episode and visit us atfoodallergyandyourkiddocom,
where you can submit yourfamily's questions.
God bless you and God blessyour family.
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