From dodgy home testing kits to advice on social media and chatbots, Britons are risking malnourishment and eating disorders by self-diagnosing food allergies and intolerances, experts warn

Britons are at risk of malnourishment after self-diagnosing food allergies and intolerances, experts warn.

Dodgy at-home testing kits and unscientific symptom-checkers on social media are leading people to experiment with diets that cut out the likes of gluten or dairy, top nutritionists have cautioned.

Some are even turning to chatbots for advice, changing their and their children’s eating habits, thereby risking malnutrition and eating disorders.

As thoughts for many turn to New Year weight loss, a new survey for the Daily Mail reveals one in four adults claim to have a food allergy or intolerance.

Fewer than half of those with an allergy (49 per cent) and less than a third of those with an intolerance (31 per cent) were diagnosed by a doctor or other health professional.

Equally concerning, two in five (39 per cent) of those who say they have an intolerance diagnosed themselves after researching their symptoms and one in five (19 per cent) diagnosed themselves using a home testing kit they bought online or from a high street shop.

Lucy Upton, a paediatric dietitian and spokesman for the British Dietetic Association, warned: ‘There has definitely been a trend of more people self-diagnosing with food intolerance over the past ten years.

‘We are starting to see that in children as well. It is parents looking for answers, sometimes diagnosing using ChatGPT. Social media is playing a huge role.

‘I can’t tell you how many parents, adults, friends, colleagues, go through this process of, well, it must be something in food, I’ll take out gluten and see if that makes you feel better, then take out dairy.

‘They start on this journey of gradually eliminating things and they may or may not feel a little bit better and then they might get some symptom relapse, and so often more and more things get taken out.’

Some turn to at-home tests, which typically require users to send a small finger prick blood sample to a lab and can cost up to £400 at a time. But nutritionists say they are not accurate enough for clinical use and cannot offer a reliable diagnosis.

The elimination diets can leave people short of vital vitamins and nutrients and can mean the real underlying cause goes untreated.

A survey from market researcher Ipsos found the most common allergy is tree nuts (almonds and hazelnuts) followed by crustaceans (prawns, crabs and lobsters); molluscs (mussels and oysters); and peanuts.

Meanwhile, the most common intolerances are gluten, milk and sulphur dioxide or sulphites.

Ms Upton said: ‘If you self-diagnose and cut out food groups, you increase the risk of nutrient deficiencies.

‘I see this, by the way, in children, which is obviously a big worry.

‘They’re growing, they’re developing where parents have been desperate to get on top of symptoms, and they come to me, excluding all these food groups and this child is not getting enough of the right nutrition they need.

Dr Federica Amati, nutrition lead at Imperial College London, said: ‘Relying on self-diagnosis, symptom searches online, or commercial home testing kits instead of seeking guidance from a qualified dietitian or allergy specialist carries real risks.

‘These include misdiagnosis, unnecessary and overly restrictive eating patterns, increased health anxiety and delays in identifying underlying conditions such as coeliac disease or inflammatory bowel disease.