Food allergy : "In 20 years, we have an increase of 300%" in children, alert a doctor
Every year the French Union of Allergists (Syfal) and the French Federation of Allergology (FFAL) organize “World Allergy Week”. It will be held this year from June 24 to 29, but doctors have decided this year to highlight the risks linked to food allergies. They call for greater awareness, better enforcement of regulations and an update of notifiable allergens. Séverine Fernandez, allergist doctor in La Ciotat and president of Syfal, answers questions from franceinfo.
franceinfo: What is a food allergy?
Dr. Fernandez: Food allergy is a response of the immune system to contact with a food protein and which will want to defend itself, fight against this food which it will consider to be an aggressor by providing an immunological response, that is to say a cascade of sequences of the immune system which will want to protect itself and which will lead to several forms, the best known of which is anaphylactic shock, that is to say a severe response, with cardiorespiratory damage. You can die from a food allergy. This is totally different from food intolerances. Intolerances are simply our digestive system feeling a little too full or being confronted with a food that it doesn’t like to digest and which will cause symptoms. These symptoms should not be minimized, but there is never a life risk. There are fewer food allergies than food intolerants, but for them the risk is greater. You don’t die from a food intolerance.
How do you consider this to be a public health issue?
According to data from the Allergo Vigilance Network (Rav), in the general population there are around 4 to 5% of food allergies, but this represents 6 to 8% of children under 15 years old while this is not was only 2% 20 years ago. In 20 years we therefore have an increase of 300%, that is still a significant increase in a short time.
- For more: Elrisala website and for social follow us on Facebook
- Source of information and images “francetvinfo“
