Food Allergies May Not Be As Common As We Think

Point.

There are a limited number of good-quality studies on food allergies, with inadequate uniform criteria for making a diagnosis and establishing prevalence and effective treatment, says an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), May 12th issue.

Family economics, social interactions, school and work attendance and health-related quality of life can be severely undermined by food allergies.

The authors of the article write "However, currently licensed treatments target only the symp¬toms of reactions and anaphylaxis [severe allergic reaction], not the allergies themselves."

Background information on the article claims there is no clear agreement regarding the prevalence or most effective diagnostic and management approaches to food allergies.

Jennifer J. Schneider Chafen, M.D., M.S., of the VA Palo Alto Healthcare System, Palo Alto, and Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif., and team examined the available evidence on the prevalence, diagnosis, management, and prevention of food allergies. They identified 72 studies that met criteria. The studies had information on food allergies to cow's milk, hen's egg, peanut, tree nut, fish, and shellfish - accounting for over 50% of all food allergies.

Counterpoint - see above.

Still think they have any idea what they are talking about?