NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, England, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- A researcher says the danger of food allergies may be overstated because eight children in Britain died of food allergy from 1990 to 2000.
Allan Colver, of University of Newcastle upon Tyne, says the increasing prescription of adrenaline injector kits fuels anxiety rather than saving lives.
Food allergy is often thought to be more dangerous and frightening than pneumonia, asthma or diabetes, Colver writes in the the British Medical Journal. Yet in reality, the risk of death is very small -- one death per 16 million children each year. But childhood food allergy is being diagnosed more often and the number of prescribed adrenaline kits has greatly increased.
A diagnosis of food allergy creates much anxiety for all who care for the child, so it is important to get the diagnosis right, take sensible measures to reduce risk, and reassess regularly to check whether the child has grown out of their allergy, according to Colver.
However, Jonathan Hourihane from University College Cork, in Ireland, says food allergy is common, about 2 percent of adults and up to 6 percent of preschool children are affected and, although deaths are rare, other reactions may be inevitable over time.
Proper management in allergy clinics means that most patients never have to use the drugs. What is advocated is increased availability of adrenaline kits for people who might need to use them, according to Hourihane.
