Eggs, Peanuts, Soy, Milk, Wheat, Fish, Shellfish and Tree Nuts

90% of food allergies in children come from eight foods. They include egg, peanuts, soy, milk, wheat, fish, shellfish and tree nuts. Now 4% of the US population has food allergies, but ten or 15 years ago not much was taught about food allergies in medical training. Now you go to preschool and there are a lot of notes and precautions about kids there that have various food allergies. It's an increasing health risk and there aren't a lot of studies about it. Now there is an international study that is trying to search for the causes. The study is being conducted in Boston, Chicago and a province in China. They are skin prick testing in China and found that 12 to 16% of the rural population had reactions to shellfish and peanuts. But in the country overall under 1% are diagnosed. This is a very complex issue and all the answers have not been found yet. A boy in the study got kissed by his grandmother and something in her lipstick made his cheek break out in hives. Food Allergies can be life threatening, 200 die each year in the US and cause 30,000 trips to the emergency room. The study is only in it's beginnings and it will take awhile before enough is known to make any helpful conclusions.