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Thousands of children wrongly labelled allergic to foods by online tests

Children are wrongly being diagnosed with food allergies due to unreliable tests, experts claim (file photo)

Hundreds of thousands of children are wrongly being diagnosed with food allergies due to unreliable tests, experts have warned.

Youngsters are being put on unnecessary and restrictive diets, avoiding products containing egg, milk, fish and wheat, which can leave them malnourished.

The National Institute of Clinical Excellence says GPs are often too quick to dismiss parents’ concerns over their child’s runny nose or tummy ache – which can be symptomatic of an allergy.

Unsure what to do, many parents then turn to so-called ‘alternative allergy tests’ sold by private firms on the internet.

But these can provide inaccurate conclusions and have ‘dangerous’ consequences for children’s health.

The draft guidelines from NICE will say that many of the techniques used by these firms – which include analysing strands of hair to measure someone’s electrical activity or muscle strength when they are close to an allergen – misdiagnose allergies and intolerances in children when there is very little wrong.

NICE wants GPs to be more vigilant about investigating common ailments in children which could be linked to an allergy and, if necessary, refer them to a proper clinic rather than risking parents turning to private firms.

Experts who helped draw up the guidelines say children can become malnourished if they are put on strict diets which avoid vital nutrients.

Dr Adam Fox, a consultant paediatric allergist at Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital in London, who helped draw up the recommendations, said: ‘The NICE guidelines will say that there is no evidence for such approaches – and we think that is very helpful because parents are wasting time and money on them.

‘They also often end up putting their children on very extensive restriction diets, which can leave them malnourished.’

Children are being put on unnecessary, restrictive diets avoiding products containing egg, milk and wheat which can leave them malnourished (file photo)

He added that the techniques often inaccurately tell people ‘GPs should step in much sooner’ they are suffering intolerance to certain types of food such as wheat and dairy which cause them to cut vital nutrients from their diets.

‘We are saying GPs should step in much sooner.’

In particular, parents are using the alternative methods to check for delayed allergic reactions which take a long time to diagnose on the NHS.

This is where a rash, tummy upset or headache develops several hours after eating the allergen food.

Often patients will have to eliminate certain foods one by one, recording symptoms until they can work out which one is causing the problem. This can take weeks.

The NICE guidelines will say that when doctors suspect a child has suffered an allergic reaction to food – such as coming out in hives after eating peanuts – they should carry out blood tests or skin prick tests, with suspected allergens placed on the skin, to confirm the diagnosis.

They will also be advised to investigate the possibility that children are suffering from delayed allergic reactions if they come in with unexplained complaints such as eczema, sneezing, diar rhoea or sickness.

GPs will also be told to take detailed family histories to try to determine whether a food allergy has been passed down genetically.


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