Check Up - Food Allergies

Two million people in the UK have a food allergy and numbers are increasing rapidly. Are we in the middle of a food allergy epidemic? In this programme, Barbara Myers is joined by consultant allergist Dr Pamela Ewan from Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge to take listeners' questions on food allergies and intolerances. Before the mid 1990s nut allergies were very rare; now 1 in 50 schoolchildren has one. In the last four years the numbers of people with allergies to fruits, from plums to peaches, kiwi to apples, has also risen exponentially. Adults and children can become allergic to any food from eggs and milk, shellfish, vegetables, seeds and nuts. What’s causing this epidemic and what can be done about it? And what’s the difference between a food allergy and an intolerance?