Most of us wrong about our food allergies 

Do you think you have a food allergy? Are you sure? Only 1 in 10 teenagers in a new survey who thought they had a food allergy actually had one.

In a study of 11 year olds and 15 year olds at the University of Portsmouth, researchers found 16% of 11-year-olds and 19% of 15-year-olds avoided particular foods because they thought they were allergic. But skin tests and other tests showed that only 2.3% in each group actually had an allergy.

Some said they didn't have a problem with certain foods, but avoided them anyway.

The most common problem foods were peanuts, milk and dairy products, wheat and fish.

Experts said that we talk about allergies more — which is good for those who have them — but that this has led many people to mistakenly believe that they — or their children — have an allergy.

Muriel Simmons, chief executive of Allergy UK told the BBC: ' We know young people are increasingly concerned about allergies. Whilst we want them to be aware, we don't want them to restrict their diets.

'Our concern is that if the world and his wife say they have an allergy, those who really do will find it increasingly hard to be taken seriously.'

Experts say that 'allergy' is a misused term anyway. They prefer the far longer and more difficult to spell description: food hypersensitivity syndrome, or FHS!

The message is: if you think you have an allergy, don't diagnose it yourself, get it checked out.