By Annie Wei (Beijing Today)
Updated: 2008-02-29 17:13

**More things to sneeze at

Many years ago, we felt sorry for those people who told you that they could not eat this or that due to allergies. But now, more and more people suffer from allergies and more children are becoming allergic to certain foods.

There are 11 million people in the US suffering from food allergies, and the number is on the rise. For example, the number of children under five years old who were allergic to peanuts, doubled from 1997 to 2002.

People who have allergies often are sensitive to more than one thing. Pollen, dust mites, mold spores, pet dander, food, insect stings and medicines are the most common substances that cause allergic reactions.

In the 1950s, there were two main foods –milk and wheat products – caused allergic reactions. The list s getting longer and longer. Eight kinds of food cause 90 percent of all food allergies: peanuts, nuts, fish, shellfish, eggs, milk, soy beans and wheat.

Apart from that, scientists have found another 170 foods that can cause problems.

Although there are far less people in China or many other developing countries who are allergic to food compared with people in Europe or the US, the number of Asian people who have food-allergies is ballooning, according to findings from a Hong Kong research institute.

The research also pointed out that egg, milk-products, bananas, sesame and cashews were the most popular food that caused allergies in Asian countries.

   1 2 3   

   1 2 3