Child malnutrition on the rise as protective parents restrict diets over allergy fears
Scientists have warned that the children of over-protective parents risk suffering from malnutrition due to the misdiagnosis of allergies fuelled by an explosion in home testing kits.
Historically such cases have been limited to poorer households with limited access to fresh fruit and veg but misguided allergy fears now mean middle class children are at risk too with some parents going so far as to avoid staples such as wheat, nuts, eggs, or milk– even though the reaction may be restricted to certain proteins.
The British Society for Immunology is at pains to point out that there is a critical difference between mere intolerance and a full-blown allergy with those prone to the former still able to consume small amounts without ill effect.
Speaking to The Times Tracey Brown, director of the charity Sense about Science, commented: “It’s a really strange phenomenon that, in the UK, we see the rise of conditions in children that indicate malnutrition in classes of people in society where you really wouldn’t expect it. Parents are cutting out major food groups in their children, which is causing malnutrition in socioeconomic groups A to C [the middle classes]. That’s a really worrying situation.”
Studies have shown that fear of allergies run far in excess of actual incidences of the condition with two in five people of the belief that they suffer from an allergy – when in reality only half that number do.