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10% of US Adults Has Food Allergy; Nearly 1 in 5 Think They Do; Nearly Half Developed as Adults

posted by martyb on Sunday January 06 2019, @06:22AM   Printer-friendly
from the aaaaa-choooooooo! dept.

upstart writes:

One in 10 adults in US has food allergy, but nearly 1 in 5 think they do: Nearly half of adults with food allergy developed an allergy during adulthood

"While we found that one in 10 adults have food allergy, nearly twice as many adults think that they are allergic to foods, while their symptoms may suggest food intolerance or other food related conditions," says lead author Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH, from Lurie Children's, who also is a Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "It is important to see a physician for appropriate testing and diagnosis before completely eliminating foods from the diet. If food allergy is confirmed, understanding the management is also critical, including recognizing symptoms of anaphylaxis and how and when to use epinephrine."

[...] "We were surprised to find that adult-onset food allergies were so common," says Dr. Gupta. "More research is needed to understand why this is occurring and how we might prevent it."

The study data indicate that the most prevalent food allergens among U.S. adults are shellfish (affecting 7.2 million adults), milk (4.7 million), peanut (4.5 million), tree nut (3 million), fin fish (2.2 million), egg (2 million), wheat (2 million), soy (1.5 million), and sesame (.5 million).

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 06 2019, @11:58PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 06 2019, @11:58PM (#782928)

    I have onion intolerance, it's fairly common, I exhibit all kinds of symptons, especially if the onions are not well cooked. Do I not eat onions? Of course I do. They are fuckign delicious. I also know many lactose intolerant people who will eat ice cream, because sometimes it's worth the pain. Intolerance is definitely not the same thing as allergy, not even close.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @12:54AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @12:54AM (#782949)

    For people confused about the difference, allergy means you're going to die in two minutes as your throat swells closed and you suffocate. Intolerance means you're going to die in 20-40 years from a malnutrition related sickness because your immune system slowly attacked and destroyed yourself. Eating vitamin pills won't help because the parts of you that absorb those nutrients are gone, destroyed by your immune system because it thought they were a threat. It's easy to know if you have an allergy. Some people never uncover their intolerances.