Food allergies in American kids on the rise, says CDC

Bristol, October 23: Food allergies plague American children in increasing numbers, says a federal report. The first federal study confirmed that 1 in 26 kids have food allergies, a significant rise in the last decade. In 2007, nearly 3 million kids under 18 years of age were reported to be affected by food or digestive allergy.

The fact that kids with food allergies are more prone to respiratory problems including asthma, and skin conditions like eczemadefine adds to the woes of parents and doctors alike.

30 years ago, food allergies were rare, but today, nearly 4.3 million American kids are affected by these potentially life-threatening conditions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that food allergies have been up by 18 percent from 1 in 29 kids in 1997 to 1 in 26 kids in 2007.

The exact cause behind a significant increase in such food allergies is not known, although some experts citied doubling in peanut allergies in the last 10 years as one of the factors responsible, according to CDC.

It seems that an increased number of doctors as well as parents consider food as the primary reason for triggering symptoms including vomiting, breathing problems and skin allergies. “A couple of decades ago, it was not uncommon to have kids sick all the time and we just said ‘They have a weak stomach’ or ‘They’re sickly’,” said Anne Munoz-Furlong, chief executive of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network, a Virginia-based advocacy organization.

Parents seem to be more aware and far quicker in getting their kids checked-up by specialists for any possibility of food allergies, says Munoz-Furlong, the founder of the non-profit way back in 1991.

The study was based on in-person, door-to-door survey of the households of 9,500 American children under age 18.

Amy Branum of the CDC, the study’s lead author feels that the study findings may be a bit off because some parents could be ignorant about the vital difference between immune systemdefine-based food allergies and digestive disorders like lactosedefine intolerance.

However, the study’s results are close to the earlier national estimates that were based on intensive studies, said Dr. Hugh Sampson, a food allergy researcher at the Mount Sinai School of medicine. “This tells us those earlier extrapolations were fairly close,” Sampson said.

The study disclosed that Hispanic kids were found to have lower rates of food allergies as compared with white or black children. Munoz-Furlong, a Hispanic herself, feels that the reason for the last finding may not be genetics as people in her own family do not consider food allergies as the reason for kids’ illnesses because “It’s a question of awareness”.