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Food Allergies - Rare But Risky

Introduction

Other Food Articles
Food Allergy And Intolerances Food Allergies: When Food Becomes The Enemy Food Allergies - Rare But Risky Common Symptoms Of An Allergic Reaction To Food Living With Food Allergies: Not As Easy As You Might Think

 

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Do you start itching whenever you eat peanuts? Does seafood cause your stomach to churn? Symptoms like these cause millions of Americans to suspect they have a food allergy.

But true food allergies affect a relatively small percentage of people: Experts estimate that only 2 percent of adults, and from 2 to 8 percent of children, are truly allergic to certain foods. Food allergy is different from food intolerance, and the term is sometimes used in a vague, all-encompassing way, muddying the waters for people who want to understand what a real food allergy is.

"Many people who have a complaint, an illness, or some discomfort attribute it to something they have eaten. Because in this country we eat almost all the time, people tend to draw false associations between food and illness," says Dean Metcalfe, M.D., head of the Mast Cell and Physiology Section at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

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Last modified: December 2004
U. S. Food and Drug Administration
FDA Consumer
May 1994