[Gastrointestinal signs and symptoms of allergic diseases in children].

Gastrointestinal food allergies are a spectrum of disorders that result from adverse immune responses to dietary antigens. The disorders include immediate gastrointestinal hypersensitivity, allergic eosinophilic esophagitis, gastritis, gastroenterocolitis, proctitis, dietary protein enterocolitis, enteropathy and celiac disease. Additional disorders sometimes attributed to food allergy include colic, gastroesophageal reflux and constipation. The pediatrician faces several challenges in dealing with these disorders because diagnosis requires differentiating allergic disorders from many other causes of similar symptoms and therapy requires identification of causal foods, application of therapeutic diets and/or medications and monitoring for resolution of these disorders.