Food Allergies in Children on the Rise

Food allergies in children seem to be on the rise and now affects about 3 million kids.

About one in 26 children had food allergies in 2007, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That's an 18% increase from ten years ago, and more than a statistical blip, said Amy Branum of the CDC.

No one knows for sure what's driving the increase. The number of peanut allergies have doubled, which seems to be one factor. Also, children seem to take longer to outgrow milk and egg allergies than before.

Another reason could be that parents and doctors are more likely to consider food as the trigger for symptoms like vomiting, skin rashes and breathing problems.

"A couple of decades ago, it was not uncommon to have kids sick all the time and we just said, 'They have a weak stomach' or 'They're sickly,'" said Anne Munoz-Furlong, chief executive of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network.

Children with food allergies also were more likely to have other related conditions than kids without food allergies, the CDC study found. The study also found the number of children hospitalized for food allergies was up.

Also, Hispanic children had lower rates of food allergies than white or black children — the first such racial/ethnic breakdown in a national study.