No, it’s not your imagination: there are more kids with food allergies. New research from a team that includes a CDC health statistician shows that food allergies are seeing a dramatic increase in the US.

The study authors are not sure whether the rise is due to a real increase in allergies or better awareness. Whatever the cause, kids with allergies have increased by almost 20 per cent while the number getting treatment at either emergency departments or hospitals has tripled in the last 16 years.

The study’s final results have been published online; you can also read them in the December issue of Pediatrics.

Many may think of food allergy as more of a nuisance than something serious. However, severe food allergies can result in anaphylaxis, a life threatening body-wide reaction to an allergen.

While you can be allergic to any food, the most common food allergens include peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, eggs, soybeans, shellfish, fish and wheat or gluten. Usually, symptoms appear fairly quickly after ingesting an allergen, but with some types of allergies, it can take several hours. It is these kinds of delayed allergies that can be missed.

Researchers for the study looked at four different US-wide data sets to evaluate the current rate of food allergy. In the 10 year time period from 1997 to 2007, the rate of food allergy appears to have gone up 18 per cent. This means that almost 4 per cent of parents now report either a food or digestive allergy in a child.

Eczema is also on the rise. In survey data, parents reported almost 9 per cent of children had skin allergy in 2007. This compared to just less than 8 percent in 1997.

Data for the study included testing for IgE, which can indicate allergy. Further tests are often required to rule out allergy though; a positive IgE test doesn’t prove allergy but suggests the potential is there.

Source: US News