College Students Taking Food Allergies Lightly: Study Finds

Misjudging the gravity of their problem, most food-allergic students across the colleges in the US are not avoiding the foods they shouldn’t eat, a new study at the University of Michigan found.

Furthermore, lack of a food allergy policy or instructors trained enough to handle edgy situations is time of food reactions, the students are often in environments where they could not be properly treated during an emergency, thus putting their lives at risk, the researchers highlighted.

Only 50 percent of the food allergic students said they took particular care about what they ate, avoiding the foods they are allergic to.

Moreover, while two-thirds could verify that another person in campus knew about his or her allergy, about 60 percent of those surveyed could verify that the roommate was aware of his or her food allergy, the researchers from the University of Michigan Health System found.

Making matters worse, barely 43 percent of the respondents could verify that they carried emergency medication to treat a sudden reaction and only about 20 percent had handy self-injectable epinephrine – the most recommended treatment for life-threatening severe allergic reactions.

"Food-allergic individuals need to increase the awareness of their food allergy among the people around them," lead researcher of the study, Matt Greenhawt, from Allergy and Asthma Centre, LLC pointed.

"This would include not only telling them that they are food allergic but also showing them how to treat them and how to recognize signs of an ongoing reaction," he added.

Food allergy causes roughly 30,000 emergency care visits with up to 200 deaths in the United States, annually. While, nearly 8 percent of children below 3 have food allergies, the rates drop to 4 percent in case of adults. Shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and eggs are among the most common food allergens.