Food Allergies Double Among Black Children

Food allergies among black children are growing at an alarming rate, say scientists at Johns Hopkins University. The rate of allergy prevalence in black children has nearly doubled in the past 23 years, and has grown 2.1 percent every year in the past decade, whereas white children have only seen an increase of one percent in allergies, according to the study published in Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Journal. The Daily Meal reported recently that peanut allergies in general amongst children are on the rise.

"It is important to note this increase was in self-reported allergy," Dr. Corinne Teet told Web MD. "Many of these children did not receive a proper food allergy diagnosis from an allergist. Other conditions such as food intolerance can often be mistaken for an allergy, because not all symptoms associated with foods are caused by food allergy."

Although the reasoning behind this rapid change is unknown, scientists hope to further determine the explanation behind the numbers soon, because even though you're not likely to die from Anaphylaxis (according to Web MD, children are more likely to be murdered than die from allergy-related illnesses), incorrectly or under-diagnosed allergies could lead to serious health and nutrition complications. 

Follow Joanna Fantozzi on Twitter @JoannaFantozzi