Austin allergist and other doctors across the country are seeing a rise in children's food allergies. Is this because more children are being tested for allergies or could something else be contributing to the problem? While there are many kinds of allergies children suffer from food allergies seem to be escalating. Other forms of allergies include skin allergies, eye allergies, hay fever, drug allergies, sinus problems, insect allergies, asthma, hives, immunodeficiency, latex, contact, and cosmetic allergies.
While all these allergies can cause problems in childhood, food allergies are the most prevalent and hardest to avoid. Children with peanut allergies may be put in harms way with something as simple as snacks brought into a classroom. Children can be severely allergic to fish, wheat, nuts, soy, eggs, red dye #5, and pineapple among others. A new study shows that food allergies are not only on the rise in quantity but also in severity. One in twelve kids in the U.S. have food allergies, and one in three of those children have severe allergies.
The study shows that minority children were more likely to have food allergies than white children were but that they are diagnosed less frequently. Food allergies have risen 18 percent from 1997 to 2007 in the U.S. according to the Disease Control and prevention. This equates to about three millions children suffering from this disorder.
There are conflicting opinions as to why the increase but one theory believes that the Western diet with chemical enhanced foods is making more children susceptible to developing allergies. The Western diet may be too rich in sugar, animal fat, and calories dense but nutritionally low. Children in developing countries with mostly plant-based diets grown locally have almost no food allergies, obesity, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, or autoimmune disease.
Another theory is that our culture is simply too clean. Our children aren't exposed to enough bacteria. Dr. Susan Rudders, lead author and pediatric allergist-immunologist in Providence, Rhode Island states, "That our immune system is skewed away from fighting infections, and toward fighting things that is not supposed to be fighting, like things in the environment or foods". While many opinions and theories can be argued, one fact remains in that food allergies for children are on the rise in the Western world. Austin allergists along with allergist from across the country are concerned about the issue.
Author Resource:-
AustinAllergist.com (http://www.austinallergist.com/) is a Harvard-trained board certified Austin allergist (allergy physician or specialist) and performs a comprehensive medical evaluation of the patient to assess the severity of a patient's condition, and to make an accurate diagnosis.
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