https://immattersacp.org/weekly/archives/2010/05/18/2.htm

Food allergies seem to proliferate, despite lack of evidence, definitions, tests

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Overreporting and the lack of good definitions and diagnostic methods contribute to the appearance of more food allergies than may actually exist, according to a new study. Nearly one-third of people think they have food allergies, when less than a tenth actually do. And the treatments for food allergies not only lack evidence, but may actually create undernourishment in children.

Researchers conducted a systematic review of English-language articles indexed between January 1988 and September 2009, and reported their conclusions in the May 12 Journal of the American Medical Association.

Diagnostic tests were included if they had a prospective, defined study population, used food challenge as a standard and had enough data to calculate sensitivity and specificity. Researchers also included systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials. Of 12,378 citations, 72 met the criteria. Researchers reported findings for the foods that make up more than half of all food allergies: cow's milk, hen's egg, peanut, tree nut, fish and shellfish.

From the literature, researchers concluded:

Researchers wrote, “This systematic review of food allergies found that the evidence on the prevalence, diagnosis, management, and prevention of food allergies is voluminous, diffuse, and critically limited by the lack of uniformity for the diagnosis of a food allergy, severely limiting conclusions about best practices for management and prevention.”