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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey brain

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Speaker 1: Stuff Lauren boke obam here. A lot of attention has

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Speaker 1: been given to the increasing number of American kids with

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Speaker 1: serious food allergies, now believed to be one in every

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Speaker 1: thirteen children, that's about eight percent. School cafeterias have largely

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Speaker 1: banned peanut butter, peanuts being one of the top triggers,

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Speaker 1: and saffy. Parents know to quiz sleepover guests on allergies

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Speaker 1: to other common foods like milk, eggs, and wheat. Childhood

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Speaker 1: food allergies are a big deal because a bad reaction

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Speaker 1: could lead to anaphylactic shock, which, if untreated by an

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Speaker 1: epinephrine shot, could be fatal. But kids and their parents

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Speaker 1: aren't the only ones who need to be educated about

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Speaker 1: food allergies and how to respond to a severe allergic reaction.

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Speaker 1: According to a new study, adults have it even worse.

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Speaker 1: More than ten percent of American adults now have one

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Speaker 1: or more food allergies, according to the largest in depth

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Speaker 1: survey of the prevalence of food allergies among adults. Of

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Speaker 1: the forty thousand adults surveyed, ten point eight percent were

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Speaker 1: determined to have a legitimate food allergy to things like shellfish, milk,

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Speaker 1: and peanuts. Of the top three allergies severe enough to

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Speaker 1: cause telltale symptoms of anaphylaxis like hives, swelling, throat tightening,

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Speaker 1: and trouble breathing, and nearly half of the allergies developed

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Speaker 1: as adults. What worries Dr Ruci Gupta, the lead author

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Speaker 1: of the study and a pediatrician and researcher who previously

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Speaker 1: focused on childhood food allergies, is not only the surprisingly

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Speaker 1: high prevalence of food allergies among adults, but the fact

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Speaker 1: that only half of the adult food allergies identified by

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Speaker 1: the survey had been diagnosed by a doctor. Even more alarming,

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Speaker 1: less than a quarter of adults with a bona fide

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Speaker 1: food allergy carried an epinephrine pen, the only way to

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Speaker 1: halt a deadly reaction. Clearly, more Americans need to take

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Speaker 1: food allergies seriously by talking with their doctors about avoiding

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Speaker 1: certain foods and having an emergency response plan in place.

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Speaker 1: But a second surprising finding that came out of gupta

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Speaker 1: study is that a separate and nearly equal cohort of

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Speaker 1: American adults believe they have legitimate food allergy but actually don't.

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Speaker 1: When asked if they were allergic to any foods, a

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Speaker 1: full nineteen percent of survey respondents said yes, but when

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Speaker 1: prompted to list the symptoms of their most severe reactions,

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Speaker 1: only ten point eight percent met the standards of a

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Speaker 1: convincing food allergy, like difficulties swallowing, chest tightening, or vomiting.

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Speaker 1: The rest of the respondent cited symptoms like diarrhea, belly pain,

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Speaker 1: and itching, which are signs of a food intolerance or

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Speaker 1: other conditions, but not a true allergy. The confusion stems

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Speaker 1: from a general misunderstanding of what is and is not

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Speaker 1: a food allergy. For example, many Americans, according to a survey,

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Speaker 1: believe that the only difference between a food allergy and

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Speaker 1: a food intolerance is the severity of the reaction, or

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Speaker 1: that people with food allergies can eat small amounts of

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Speaker 1: the offending food without triggering a reaction. A true food

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Speaker 1: allergy means that consuming any amount of the allergy, even

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Speaker 1: a tiny sip or crumb, will trigger the immediate and

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Speaker 1: overactive immune response known as anaphylaxis. The severity of the

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Speaker 1: reaction depends on the severity of the allergy. People with

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Speaker 1: a food intolerance on the other hand, can sometimes eat

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Speaker 1: or drink small amounts of the troublesome food without triggering

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Speaker 1: any symptoms, and even when the symptoms are at their worst,

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Speaker 1: they're usually confined to the gastro intestinal tract. Gupta doesn't

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Speaker 1: blame the nearly nine percent of Americans who falsely believe

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Speaker 1: that they have a food allergy. In addition to food intolerances, which,

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Speaker 1: to be fair, can make people feel absolutely lousy, there

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Speaker 1: are a host of other conditions with symptoms that overlap

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Speaker 1: with true food allergies. A common one is oral allergy syndrome,

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Speaker 1: in which certain fresh fruits, vegetables, and nuts trigger an

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Speaker 1: itching sensation in the mouth and throat and swollen lips.

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Speaker 1: It looks like a food allergy, but the reaction is

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Speaker 1: actually triggered by common pollen allergies, and the symptoms go

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Speaker 1: away quickly. But if your throat burns and your lips

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Speaker 1: blow up like balloons every time you eat a peach,

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Speaker 1: you could be forgiven for thinking that you had a

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Speaker 1: food allergy. Celiac disease and autoimmune disorder and marked by

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Speaker 1: severe intolerance to gluten, is also not a true food allergy,

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Speaker 1: since the autoimmune response does not result in anaphylaxis. It

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Speaker 1: still sucks though. In the food Allergy survey, Gupta and

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Speaker 1: a panel of allergists were trying to be as conservative

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Speaker 1: as possible when deciding if a certain bundle of symptoms

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Speaker 1: qualified as an allergy, which means that their figure of

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Speaker 1: ten percent of adults with food allergies could be low.

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Speaker 1: The only way to know for sure would be to

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Speaker 1: test each and every person who reported a food allergy,

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Speaker 1: either through a skin prick test or the more dramatic

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Speaker 1: Food challenge, in which an individual ingests a potential allergy

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Speaker 1: in a doctor's office to gauge their immune response. But

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Speaker 1: with the sample size of forty that's not practical. Goop

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Speaker 1: to things that The key takeaway from the food Allergy

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Speaker 1: survey is the importance of talking to a doctor to

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Speaker 1: figure out if your specific set of food related symptoms

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Speaker 1: is a true allergy or something else, Gupta said, because

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Speaker 1: some of these conditions are treatable and some of them

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Speaker 1: are life threatening, it's important to know what you're dealing with,

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Speaker 1: and if it turns out that you don't have a

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Speaker 1: true food allergy, that's great news. Instead of anxiously avoiding

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Speaker 1: all contact was certain foods, you can take steps to

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Speaker 1: avoid a reaction. For example, oral allergy syndrome can often

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Speaker 1: be avoided by cooking the offending fruit or vegetable instead

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Speaker 1: of eating it raw. And people with lactose intolerance rather

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Speaker 1: than a true milk allergy, can enjoy lactose free dairy

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Speaker 1: products without giving up the pure joy of an ice

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Speaker 1: cream cone on a hot summer day. So if you've

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Speaker 1: experienced unpleasant reactions to certain foods, don't suffer in silence.

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Speaker 1: Talk to your doctor or make an appointment with an

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Speaker 1: allergist to get tested knowledge. After all his power, Today's

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Speaker 1: episode was written by Dave Ruse and produced by Tyler

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Speaker 1: Clin for iHeart Media and how Stuff Works from Marandas

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Speaker 1: and lots of other powerful topics. Visit our home planet,

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Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com