When Food Can Kill You: Coping With Severe Food Allergies

For Xaviar Peterson, eating lunch at the school cafeteria, at a friend’s house, or in a restaurant, can be extremely dangerous. There’s a long list of foods—from peanuts, to shellfish, to sesame—that could quickly send him into life-threatening anaphylactic reaction. He’s one of up to 15 million Americans who suffer from food allergies. And though the statistics continue to rise, there is still no cure.

See how Xaviar, with the help of his mom Anastasia, learns to protect himself against the very real threats of food allergies, while still trying to live a normal life.

To learn more about families coping with food allergies and some theories as to why so many are afflicted, read more here: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/the-plate/2016/06/science-can_t-fully-explain-food-allergies–but-many-people-just

PRODUCERS: Gabriella Garcia-Pardo and Becky Harlan
EDITOR: Becky Harlan
SPECIAL THANKS: Anastasia Kim and Mary Lindauer
MUSIC: Dan Phillipson