BrainStuff Classics: How Many People Really Have Food Allergies?

There's a lot of confusion over food allergies, intolerances, and other disorders with similar symptoms. So how can you tell the difference, and how many of us should be concerned? Learn more in this classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/allergies/food-allergy/information/why-there-is-so-much-confusion-about-who-has-food-allergies.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff
Lauren vogelbomb here with a classic episode of the podcast.
In this one, we get into the science of food allergies,
including how common they really are and why they're often
confused with other conditions. Hey brain Stuff Lauren vocal bomb here.

(00:25):
A lot of attention has been given to the increasing
number of American kids with serious food allergies, now believed
to be one in every thirteen children, that's about eight percent.
School cafeterias have largely banned peanut butter, peanuts being one
of the top triggers, and savvy parents note a quiz
sleepover guests on allergies to other common foods like milk, eggs,
and wheat. Childhood food allergies are a big deal because

(00:48):
a bad reaction could lead to anaphylactic shock, which, if
untreated by an epinephrine shot, could be fatal. But kids
and their parents aren't the only ones who need to
be educated about food allergies and how to respond to
a severe allergic reaction. According to a new study, adults
have it even worse. More than ten percent of American
adults now have one or more food allergies, according to

(01:10):
the largest in depth survey of the prevalence of food
allergies among adults. Of the forty thousand adults surveyed, ten
point eight percent were determined to have a legitimate food
allergy to things like shellfish, milk, and peanuts. Of the
top three allergies severe enough to cause telltale symptoms of
anaphylaxis like hives, swelling, throat tightening, and trouble breathing, and

(01:31):
nearly half of the allergies developed as adults. What worries
doctor Ruci Gupta, the lead author of the study and
a pediatrician and researcher who previously focused on childhood food allergies,
is not only these surprisingly high prevalence of food allergies
among adults, but the fact that only half of the
adult food allergies identified by the survey had been diagnosed

(01:51):
by a doctor. Even more alarming, less than a quarter
of adults with a bonafide food allergy carried an epinephrine
pen the only way to halt a deadly reaction. Clearly,
more Americans need to take food allergies seriously by talking
with their doctors about avoiding certain foods and having an
emergency response plan in place. But a second surprising finding

(02:11):
that came out of gup to study is that a
separate and nearly equal cohort of American adults believe they
have a legitimate food allergy but actually don't. When asked
if they were allergic to any foods, a full nineteen
percent of survey respondents said yes, but when prompted to
list the symptoms of their most severe reactions, only ten
point eight percent met the standards of a convincing food allergy,

(02:33):
like difficulty swallowing, chest tightening, or vomiting. The rest of
the respondent cited symptoms like diarrhea, belly pain, and itching,
which are signs of a food intolerance or other conditions,
but not a true allergy. The confusion stems from a
general misunderstanding of what is and is not a food allergy.
For example, many Americans thirty one percent according to a

(02:54):
twenty fifteen survey, believe that the only difference between a
food allergy and a food intolerance is the severity of
the reaction, or that people with food allergies can eat
small amounts of the offending food without triggering a reaction.
A true food allergy means that consuming any amount of
the allergen, even a tiny sip or crumb, will trigger
the immediate and overactive immune response known as anaphylaxis. The

(03:17):
severity of the reaction depends on the severity of the allergy.
A People with a food intolerance, on the other hand,
can sometimes eat or drink small amounts of the troublesome
food without triggering any symptoms, and even when the symptoms
are at their worst, they are usually confined to the
gastrointestinal tract. GOUPDA doesn't blame the nearly nine percent of
Americans who falsely believe that they have a food allergy.

(03:38):
In addition to food intolerances, which, to be fair, can
make people feel absolutely lousy, there are a host of
other conditions with symptoms that overlap with true food allergies.
A common one is oral allergy syndrome, in which certain
fresh fruits, vegetables, and nuts trigger an itching sensation in
the mouth and throat and swollen lips. It looks like
a food allergy, but the reaction is actually triggered by

(04:00):
common pollen allergies, and the symptoms go away quickly. But
if your throat burns and your lips blow up like
balloons every time you eat a peach. You could be
forgiven for thinking that you had a food allergy. A
celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder and marked by severe intolerance
to gluten, is also not a true food allergy, since
the autoimmune response does not result in anaphylaxis. It still sucks, though.

(04:22):
In the food Allergy survey, Gupta and a panel of
allergists were trying to be as conservative as possible when
deciding if a certain bundle of symptoms qualified as an allergy,
which means that their figure of ten point eight percent
of adults with food allergies could be low. The only
way to know for sure would be to test each
and every person who reported a food allergy, either through
a skin prick test or the more dramatic food challenge,

(04:44):
in which an individual ingests a potential allergen in a
doctor's office to gauge their immune response. But with the
sample size of forty thousand, that's not practical. Gouped to
things that The key takeaway from the food Allergy survey
is the importance of talking to a doctor to figure
out if your specific set of food related symptoms is
a true allergy or something else, Goupta said, because some

(05:05):
of these conditions are treatable and some of them are
life threatening, it's important to know what you're dealing with,
and if it turns out that you don't have a
true food allergy, that's great news. Instead of anxiously avoiding
all contact with certain foods, you can take steps to
avoid a reaction. For example, oral allergy syndrome can often
be avoided by cooking the offending fruit or vegetable instead
of eating it raw. And people with lactose intolerance rather

(05:28):
than a true milk allergy, can enjoy lactose free dairy
products without giving up the pure joy of an ice
cream cone on a hot summer day. So if you've
experienced unpleasant reactions to certain foods, don't suffer in silence.
Talk to your doctor or make an appointment with an
allergist to get tested. Knowledge. After all is power. Today's

(05:50):
episode is based on the article why is there so
much confusion about who has food allergies? On HowStuffWorks dot Com?
Written by Dave Ruse. Brain Stuff is production by Heart
Radio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com and is
produced by Tyler Klang. Before more podcasts from my heart Radio,
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