Are the Dangers of Food Allergies in Children Exaggerated?

Since I started writing this blog, I have encountered reports of increasing incidences of food allergies innumerable times. It is alarming and intriguing. Conversely, to some extent, it is comforting knowing that my son who had, and still has, many food allergies, is not an isolated case. There are a number of of us, and I believe in the strength of numbers.

But Dr. Allan Colver, a professor of community child health at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, says that the dangers of childhood food allergies are over-estimated, and that prescribing adrenaline-injecting EpiPens to children with food allergies may only be fuelling anxiety in parents unnecessarily.

Jonathan Hourihane, a professor of pediatrics and child health at University College Cork in Ireland, however, disagrees, and maintains that autoinjectors are justified as part of an integrated care plan.

Read about their debate in the CBC News, or the full article reported in the British Medical Journal. You may also want to read a comment left by Jonathan Shaw, Director of The Allergy Show, who disagrees with Dr. Colver:


Posted by: JoAnn    Source