SocraticGadfly: Think you have a food allergy? Think again

May 12, 2010

Think you have a food allergy? Think again

Due to shoddy testing and other things, food allergies are massively overdiagnosed, especially in adults.

The skin prick test? Accurate less than 50 percent of the time, for example.

I have figured this for some time, but it's nice to get detailed empirical confirmation of the shoddiness (and perhaps a bit of quackery, too).

Too bad the story didn't address the quackery angle, with orthomolecularists, suspect nutritionists and other alt-med types wandering around.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have Oral Allergy Syndrome. That is a fun one. Would be interested in you thoughts on that one.
Joyce

Gadfly said...

Interesting, at the least ... what does it involved?