Living with food allergy

Food allergy is among the most common of the allergic disorders, with a prevalence of 6-8 per cent in children up to the age of three. However, many people self-diagnose, putting their children at risk of malnutrition, possibly as a result of lack of awareness by health professionals of food allergy as a potential cause of conditions such as infantile eczema, chronic diarrhoea, faltering growth and gastrooesophageal reflux. NICE (The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) recently published guidelines, which they hope will help to improve the diagnosis of food allergies within the community. If food allergy or lactose intolerance is suspected, the mainstay of a diagnostic work up should comprise of a detailed allergy-focused clinical history, part of which will involve determining whether the adverse reaction is typically an immediate (IgE mediated) or more delayed-type (non-IgE mediated) allergic reaction, or whether it may be lactose intolerance; a form of non-allergic hypersensitivity.