It's Not Just Your Imagination

Look through the comments of any internet discussion about peanut allergies, or talk with a group of parents for long enough, and someone's bound to say, "We didn't have all these severe allergies when I was a kid. I didn't know anyone who couldn't eat peanut butter, and I certainly didn't know anyone whose allergies were bad enough to kill them." (Usually this statement precedes one of two arguments: an argument that severe allergies aren't real and that parents are making too much of a minor problem, or an argument that times have changed dramatically and that kids' immune systems are acting differently.)

There may well be increased vigilance among parents of kids diagnosed with allergies. Milk allergies and egg allergies, for example, aren't viewed as relatively minor inconveniences that kids will certainly outgrow but (correctly) as allergies that can be severe and even life-threatening in their own right.

However, one thing that's clear is that food allergies really are becoming more common. Whether it's the hygiene hypothesis, environmental factors, a change in diet over the last generation, or some factor that researchers haven't yet uncovered, more and more kids are being diagnosed with food allergies. The next time someone says, "Well, we didn't have that many allergies when I was a kid," just smile and say, "You're right. Your point?"

• Are Food Allergies Really Becoming More Common?