All the more reason to be allergy aware! The Center for Disease Control recently released a study on food allergies and children. The federal study, called “Food Allergy Among U.S. Children: Trends in Prevalence and Hospitalizations,” is very extensive.

Here are a few of the highlights:
- Four out of every 100 children have a food allergy. That’s about 3 million kids!

- There has been an 18% increase in children with food allergies since 1997 with 1 in 26 children having food allergies.

- The number of children hospitalized for food allergies jumped from 2,600 in the late 1990s to 9,500 annually in the most recent years.

And to see all of the key findings, click here.

Also, here is a great Washington Post blog entry on this topic. It provides real life issues and examples that allergy parents face.

As we always say, be careful with allergies! Keep a watchful eye and make sure everyone around your allergy prone child is just as vigilant.

Be well,
Dr. Y