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JACI Highlights - June 2007
Vierk et al - Prevalence of self-reported food allergy in American adults and use of food labels
Food allergies among U.S. adults have become more prevalent in recent years. Because there are currently no cures for food allergies, individuals must manage their food allergies through avoidance of foods containing the allergens to which they are sensitive. In the June 2007 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, a report by Vierk and colleagues examines the prevalence of food allergies in U.S. adults and, specifically, their experiences with the use of food labeling. The authors analyzed data from the 2001 U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Food Safety Survey of patients who reported having food allergy. (Doctors' medical evidence of the allergies was not provided.) The researchers found that a large number of food allergic adults reported that they had problems managing their food allergies because food labels used technical, unfamiliar or non-specific terms and because products do not consistently list new ingredients, which required them to carefully read the ingredient list each time they bought a product. Several of the label problems identified in this study are addressed by a new law, the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004, that became effective in January, 2006. The findings from this study can be compared with data collected later, after the effective date of the labeling change.
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