Be Free For Me Blog

A recent article in the New York Times states that misdiagnosed food allergies are on the rise and many of the 11 million people, including 3 million children, are needlessly avoiding certain foods and spending hundreds of dollars more on non-allergenic supplements.   

Ouch… for many peoples health and pocketbook.

The article states that many of these misdiagnoses are occurring because of the widespread use of a quick, convenient, and often unreliable, simple blood test for antibodies that could signal a reaction to food, rather than having the painful skin testing and time consuming “food challenge” testing.

My first thought after reading this article was “better safe than sorry”, but further reading explained that avoiding certain foods in the mistaken fear of an allergy may be making many children at risk of malnutrition and more sensitive to certain foods when they finally do eat them (Which brings up a whole different issue: What happens to siblings that don’t eat peanuts, wheat or another foods, because another sibling is allergic to them? Does that MAKE the non-allergic one eventually sensitive to that food?). 

Any thoughts? How were you (or your child) diagnosed with your food allergy or celiac disease (blood work? Skin testing? Bioposy? Food challenge?) ? Do you feel it was accurate or the best way to determine a food allergy / celiac diagnosis in your case?