Children with food allergies increased by 18 percent

The number of young people who had a food or digestive allergy increased 18 percent between 1997 and 2007, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2007, approximately 3 million U.S. children and teenagers under age 18 – or nearly 4 percent of that age group – were reported to have a food or digestive allergy in the previous 12 months, compared to just over 2.3 million (3.3 percent) in 1997..” A. Wesley Burks, "co-author of the American Academy of Pediatrics' 2008 food allergy recommendations who was not involved in the new CDC report," said that "because so many studies have documented a rise in allergic diseases, doctors believe the increase is 'real,' rather than the result of greater awareness or expanded testing."