According to a NY Times article, "misdiagnosed food allergies appear to be on the rise, and countless families are needlessly avoiding certain foods and spending hundreds of dollars on costly nonallergenic supplements."
In fact, "avoiding food in the mistaken fear of allergy may... [be] making children more sensitive to certain foods when they finally do eat them."
The culprit? "widespread use of simple blood tests for antibodies that could signal a reaction to food," but aren't always reliable. The surest test involves actually eating the suspect food...
Some good news: many allergies can be outgrown, especially allergies to milk, eggs, soy and wheat! So it's always a good idea to get tested again.
Although my children are not allergic, many of their playmates are. We can't bring treats into daycare, for instance, because it's just too difficult to screen all the outside food, plus it wouldn't be fair to offer goodies that some of the children won't be able to enjoy.
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