Food Allergy Rates on the Rise

Dramatic Hospitalization Increase

Food allergy rates rose by 18 percent in American children from 1997 to 2007 according to a report from the National Center for Health Statistics, and hospital discharges for patients with at least one allergy diagnosis rose by an astonishing 264 percent from 1998 to 2008.

Wheat is a major source of food allergies, and it’s an ingredient as either a product or by-product in many types of foods.

Food allergy triggers the body’s immune response when certain types of food or food additives are digested.  The resulting reaction can range from a tingling sensation in the mouth to death in the most severe cases.  About three million children in the U.S. experience food allergy, but the majority outgrow the condition by adulthood.

Children who have food allergies are two to four times more likely to have other allergic conditions such as asthma, eczema or respiratory allergy.  Those who have both food allergy and asthma are at a higher risk of death from anaphylactic reactions such as hives, difficult breathing, swelling in the mouth and throat, diarrhea, vomiting, rapid reduction of blood pressure of and loss of consciousness.

More than 90 percent of food allergy reactions involve the ingestion of milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy or wheat.  The prevalence of these ingredients in a wide variety of foods can drastically affect both the children and their families. 

Young children under age five have higher rates of food allergy than older children, and for reasons not understood, Hispanic children have lower rates of food allergy than non-Hispanic white or non-Hispanic black children.  Rates of food allergy are not influenced by gender.

The findings are similar to studies conducted in other countries.  The dramatic rise in hospitalizations could be the result of increased awareness, reporting or the better use of hospital codes for the food allergy diagnosis. the report concluded.