Do more people have food allergies now than they used to? It certainly seems as though more kids are allergic to peanuts, for example. The food allergists at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York believe that more children have a peanut allergy than ever before. Researchers did a study and found that more than three times as many kids as previously are allergic to peanuts, rising from 0.4% in 1997 to 1.4% in 2010. Many people are allergic to more than one food.
If You Don’t Have a Food Allergy, Someone You Know Does
- As many as 15 million people in the U.S. are allergic to at least one food.
- One child in 13 has a food allergy or two children in every single classroom.
- Food allergies cost everyone about $25 billion each year.
Grandma and Grandpa Probably Didn’t Have a Food Allergy
- The grocery cart at the store is packed with food from around the world. Checking the labels won’t tell the whole story, but will give an indication. Fruits and vegetables are not usually from local farms or orchards but are more apt to have been grown in Mexico, Chile or another nation. Meat and fish could have been processed in a Chinese factory or caught in a polluted river in Viet Nam.
- Peanut butter is actually only about 100 years old; it was once considered a rare treat. Now, by the time a kid (without a peanut allergy) graduates from high school, he or she has eaten about 1,500 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
- Butter and lard were, at one time, the fats people used in cooking. That may not sound very healthy, but the butter came from local dairy cows and the lard from local pigs who weren’t treated with antibiotics or hormones.
Pesticides, Water and Food Allergies
Are pesticides and chlorinated water causing food allergies? An article by Dr. Jerschow in the Annals of Allergy and Immunology found that there was a chemical found in pesticides and the water used by many farmers that seemed to be linked to the increasing number of people with food allergies.
Identifying a food allergy can save your life. Get tested by an Allergy Doctor in Elizabethtown KY. Visit an Accredited Asthma Allergy And Food Intolerance Center for diagnosis and treatment for your allergies by an experienced Allergy Doctor in Elizabethtown KY.
