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Article: Food allergies increasing in US kids, study says
- Article from:
- AP Worldstream
- Article date:
- October 23, 2008
- Author:
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Food allergies in American children seem to be on the rise, now affecting about 3 million kids, according to the first federal study of the problem.
But experts said that might be because parents are more aware and quicker to have their kids checked out by a doctor.
About 1 in 26 children had food allergies last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday. That's up from 1 in 30 kids in 1997.
The 18 percent increase is significant enough to be considered more than a statistical blip, said Amy Branum of the CDC, the study's lead author.
Nobody knows for sure what is driving the increase. A doubling in peanut allergies _ noted in earlier ...