Children's visits to emergency rooms for serious food-allergy reactions may be on the rise. Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston found that the number of food-induced allergic reactions treated in their ER more than doubled over six years.
There was an even greater rise in the number of serious, potentially life-threatening reactions known as anaphylaxis. The number of anaphylaxis cases nearly tripled.
According to Reuters:
“The reasons for the increases cannot be gleaned from the data. But the findings are in line with studies pointing to a general increase in food allergies among U.S. children in recent years ... 3 million school-aged children in the U.S. had a food allergy in 2007, which was up 18 percent from 10 years earlier.”