June 28, 2007

Five percent of U.S. adults report food allergy

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - More than 5 percent of U.S. adults may
have food allergies, and many of them say food labels make it hard to
protect themselves, according to a government study.

Using data from a national survey from 2001, researchers at the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) found that 5.3 percent of U.S. adults
said a doctor had diagnosed them with a food allergy.

Roughly half of these individuals were allergic to one or more of the
eight most common food allergens: milk and other dairy foods; fish;
eggs; crustaceans like lobster and shrimp; tree nuts such as walnuts;
peanuts; soy; and wheat.

Others said they were allergic to some type of fruit or vegetable,
chocolate, a food additive, or shellfish (which the law defines as
separate from crustaceans).

When asked about any problems they had with reading food labels, 40
percent of those who regularly read labels reported some "serious"
or "very serious" difficulty. Problems included manufacturers' use of
vague terms, like "spice," and technical terms, such as casein
instead of milk, or albumin instead of eggs.

Another issue was that food makers do not always make it clear when a
new ingredient has been added to a product, though it is included on
the ingredient list.

Katherine A. Vierk and her colleagues at the FDA report the findings
in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Since the 2001 survey was taken, Congress passed a law requiring food
makers to list, in plain English, any of the eight most common food
allergens. That law, which went into effect in 2006, should address
many of the concerns voiced in this survey, according to Vierk's team.

They say similar surveys can now be conducted to see whether the new
label law has made managing food allergies any easier.

SOURCE: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, June 2007.

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