A recent article on the BBC website investigated why food allergies are on the rise.
The article says..
‘A food allergy can be a terrifying thing. When someone eats even a small amount of a food to which they are allergic, a minor reaction can involve itching, swelling, and stomach ache. But one in four people unlucky enough to have a food allergy, even a mild one, will at some point experience a severe reaction: anaphylaxis, a state of shock defined as a reaction involving two of the body’s organs, is characterised by symptoms like wheezing, dizziness and vomiting. The pulse can slow, blood pressure can drop, and the airways can close. In an alarming number of people in the last few years, it has been fatal.
More of the population has food allergies than ever before – and around the world, they are sending more and more people to hospital. One large-scale review of hospital admissions data found anaphylaxis cases on the rise in the US, Australia and Europe, among other regions. In the US, hospital visits for food allergy increased threefold from 1993 to 2006. Between 2013 and 2019, England saw a 72% rise in the number of hospital admissions for children caused by anaphylaxis, from 1,015 admissions to 1,746.
“That food allergies have risen is unquestionably the case, to an absolutely crazy extent,” says Graham Rook, emeritus professor of medical microbiology at University College London.’
Read the full BBC article here.
Paediatric food allergy testing is available at our clinics in Horley and Reigate, Surrey, Wimbledon, London, and Spire Gatwick, making us easily accessible to see children from all nearby areas, including Chichester, Banstead, Dorking, Epsom, Guildford, Redhill, Southampton, Portsmouth, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone, North and South Kensington, Hammersmith, Twickenham, Camden Town, Wandsworth, and all nearby towns and villages.