Food and Skin Allergies are Dramatically Rising in Kids

Scientists are finding that food allergies and skin allergies are increasing significantly among children in the U.S. and other Western countries.

U.S. children allergy incidence

Research from the Centers for Disease Control has determined that food and skin allergies among children have dramatically increased over the past decade. Conventional medicine has no idea what is causing this nearly epidemic rise in allergies.

The research was produced by researchers from the CDC and funded by the National Center for Health Statistics and the U.S. Department of Health and Human services.

The researchers conducted personal phone surveys from a representative population of thousands of parents between 2009 and 2011. This was matched with a similar survey performed between 1997 and 1999 with the same research methods. The survey was conducted with parents or responsible adults, who answered questions regarding their children to the interviewers. The survey collected data on children between the ages of infancy through 17 years of age.

One in 20 children have food allergies

The research found that 5.1% of all children have food allergies. This converts to about one in twenty children.

The 1997-1999 survey found that 3.4% of children had food allergies, or about one in thirty children.

This computes to a growth rate of 50% – meaning 50% more U.S. children have food allergies than a decade earlier.

The researchers also found that skin allergies increased during the same period – from 7.4% of children in 1997-1999 to 12.5% of children in 2009-2011.

70 percent growth rate in skin allergies

That equates to a growth rate of nearly 70% for skin allergies during the decade. And it means that one out of every eight children have skin allergies.

The study also found that the most common type of allergies among American children were respiratory allergies. Approximately 17% of children have respiratory allergies – equating to nearly 1 out of 5 children.

However, there was no significant rise in respiratory allergies during the decade. If we factor in the fact that emissions have been reduced by nearly 7% in the U.S. since 2005, this means that respiratory allergies are in fact rising against the backdrop of lower emissions.

Doctors don’t know why allergies are growing

The CDC researchers, led by senior author Dr. Lara Akinbami, were puzzled with the findings. “We don’t really have the answer,” Dr. Akinbami said when asked her opinion on the cause for the dramatic rise in allergies among children.

The research also found that younger children have a higher incidence of skin allergies while older kids have more respiratory allergies. Incidence of skin allergies is over 14% in four year-olds and younger; 13% between five years and nine years old; and 11% between the ages of 10 and 17 years old.

Hispanic children have significantly lower rates of both food and skin allergies, at 3.6% and 10% respectively. Meanwhile, Black children have significantly higher rates of skin allergies, at over 17%, but lower rates of respiratory allergies than Whites, at 15.6%. Among White children only, 12% have skin allergies and over 19% have respiratory allergies.

High income families have greater allergies

The research also discovered that the higher the family income, the more incidence of allergies among the children in the family. In families below the poverty level, 4.4% have food allergies and 15% have respiratory allergies. Among families with income over the poverty level, 5% have food allergies and 15.8% have respiratory allergies. And in children in families with income more than double the poverty level, 5.4% have food allergies and 18.3% have respiratory allergies.

That means that children in significantly-higher income families have over 20% more food allergies and respiratory allergies than do children in families below the poverty level.

Conventional medical researchers are puzzled not only with this, but by the dramatic rise in food and skin allergies among children: They are also mystified as to the causes of these allergies in general.

This does not mean those causes are unknown. Other research has found that allergies are linked to eating a Western diet.

Find the real causes for food allergies:

REFERENCE:

Jackson KD, LeJeana DH, Akinbami LJ. Trends in Allergic Conditions Among Children. HCHS Data Brief, Natl Ctr for Health Stats. No. 121, May 2013