Food: Rethink on Allergies

We are the greatest hypochondriacs when it comes to food allergies, wrongly
blaming their meals for everything from acne to headaches - and celebrities
are often at fault, skin specialists said.
More than 10 per cent of adults claimed to suffer from some sort of food
allergy, and most people blamed dairy and wheat for their ills, but less
than 2 per cent had a true allergy, said Connie Katelaris, a professor of
immunology and allergy.
"These imagined food allergies are far more likely to be reported by women
than by men," she said. "An individual often feels that they have control
over their symptoms if they blame food."
Professor Katelaris, speaking at annual scientific meeting of the College of
Dermatologists, said most children grew out of their allergies by adulthood.
"About 97 per cent of those who had an allergy to dairy as children are no
longer allergic as adults, while two-thirds of children grow out of their
egg allergy and 20 per cent grow out of their allergy to peanuts."
A study of 250 doctors in Britain in 2006 found that 63 per cent had
reported an increase in the number of patients claiming they had food
allergies after the singers Geri Halliwell and Victoria Beckham and the
actor Orlando Bloom announced they were sensitive to wheat and dairy
products, while a poll of 1000 adults found more than 20 per cent had learnt
of food intolerances and allergies from celebrity interviews, magazines and
TV shows.
"I get quite frustrated by it," the secretary of the College of
Dermatologists, Stephen Shumack, said. "People want to blame food for
everything that is wrong with them when food allergies are actually very,
very rare."
For those who really are allergic to certain foods, the tiniest amount can
be life-threatening. [SMH]