"Study: Kid's Food Allergies Way Up"

Peanuts, soy, fresh fruits, eggs, dairy products - these are all food items that children are commonly allergic to. In school, teachers and nurses are always sure to inform us about what we should and shouldn't bring into school for snacks or lunches due to the possibility of our fellow peers having a severe allergic reaction. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that about 1 in 26 children had food allergies last year, and that's up from 1 in 29 kids in the year 1997. Amy Branum of the CDC said that this 18% increase was significant enough to be recorded as more than just a statistical blip. (Also, Amy Branum is the study's lead author.) "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,'" Anne Munoz-Furlong of the Food Allergy & Anaphlaxis Network (a Virginia-based advocacy organization) said. Most parents these days are quicker to bring their child or children to a doctor/specialist to be checked out for common allergies, Anne Munoz-Furlong also said. Some other research is suggesting that more children in America are becoming more commonly allergic to milk, eggs, shellfish, and peanuts. CDC results came from a door-to-door survey in 2007 of the households of 9,500 U.S children under age 18. Most families (roughly 4 percent), when asked if a child in the house had any kind of food allergy in the past 12 months said yes. The results of this survey, however, did not tell us which foods were the culprit of these allergies. Finally, Hispanic children had lower rates of food allergies than black or white children. This was also the first racial/ethnic breakdown in a nation-wide study.
Story By: Mike Stobbe, The Associated Press.


Allergy Trends:
(Percentage of children with food or digestive allergies)
In 2007, approximately 3 million children under the age of 18 were reported to have a food or digestive allergy, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Study.

Age:
UNDER 5: 4.7%
5 - 17: 3.7%

Gender:
MALE: 3.8%
FEMALE: 4.1%

Race/Ethnicity:
WHITE: 4.1%
BLACK: 4.0%
HISPANIC: 3.1%

Hospital discharges per year among children diagnosed with food allergies:
(Average Number)

1996-2000: 2,615 Children
2001-2003: 4,135 Children
2004-2006: 9,537 Children



INFORMATION GATHERED FROM "THE HOME NEWS TRIBUNE" NEWSPAPER