Parents who suspect a child has food allergy should not resort to alternative and high street tests, according to official UK guidance published today.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has provided the advice for GPs, nurses, health care professionals and patients. Food allergies are increasingly common and reactions can be severe.
Cow’s milk, fish and shellfish, hen’s eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat and kiwi fruit can all provoke reactions in some children.
The guidelines say that if a food allergy is suspected, the health care professional should look at the patient and their family’s history of allergy symptoms, and do a physical examination for signs of malnutrition.
It also recommends giving appropriate information on the type of possible allergy and how it is diagnosed, for example, excluding and reintroducing specific foods, or skin prick and/or blood tests.
But it warns against alternative methods of diagnosis available on the high street or internet such as the Vega test, kinesiology, and hair analysis.
Author Dr Adam Fox said: "Many parents often turn to alternative methods to help diagnose their child, but there is currently little evidence base for these approaches, and parents often end up putting their children on very extensive restriction diets following the inaccurate diagnosis, which can leave them malnourished, as well as wasting time and money."
The advice was welcomed by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Professor John Warner, of the college, said: "We hope that this guidance will focus attention on the pressing need to improve the provision of allergy services in the UK."
* New research also highlights the dramatic impact that food allergies can have on children’s quality of life.
Professor Maria Antonella Muraro, of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, found that food allergic children suffer from anxiety and can be lonely.
"Allergies are often downplayed as a minor problem, but the life of an allergic child can be hell." she says. "The constant alarm surrounding them is taking a toll on their development and well-being."
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