Additional findings

The trend towards self diagnosis is worrying because it means that by eliminating certain food types, up to one-third of people are unnecessarily depriving themselves of nutritious food substances. Parents who 'diagnose' food allergies in their own child may unknowingly place the child at risk for nutritional deficiency. Whilst the allergy rate amongst children is slightly higher than it is among adults (approximately 6%), a far greater percentage of children are misdiagnosed as having a food allergy. In addition, research shows that most children will outgrow their allergies; this fact is often overlooked, however, with the result being that children continue to avoid certain food types well into adulthood. The general public have become more health-conscious and better informed about food safety issues, which has in turn led to increased self-awareness of the possibility of a food allergy.

One major obstacle is the lack of reliable diagnostic tests for detecting allergies and the fact that existing tests are often based on subjective parameters. The current gold standard is the food challenge test, which entails placing various foods, some of which are suspected of causing a reaction, into an individual opaque capsule. The patient then swallows the capsule and is monitored to see if a reaction occurs. This process is repeated until all the capsules have been swallowed. In a true double-blind test, the doctor is also 'blinded', the capsules having been made up by another medical person, so that neither the patient nor the doctor knows which capsule contains an allergen.