According to a new study carried out in Germany half of all food allergies are not allergies at all.

The study looked at 419 patients and after extensive allergy testing, found that only 214 of the 419 people tested, actually suffered from an allergy.

In many cases sufferers assumed that the symptoms that they were suffering from were due to an allergy to certain foods.

In fact, the symptoms were not allergic reactions, but due to something entirely different.

They wrongly suspected that they were suffering from an allergy until allergy testing confirmed that they weren’t.

Their quality of life improved because they did not have to avoid certain foods or be worried whenever they were out at a restaurant or at friends for dinner.

As well as ruling out an allergic reaction, allergy testing can confirm a previously unrecognised allergy.

If a food allergy goes undetected it can lead to anaphylaxis which in turn can be fatal.

If allergy testing rules out the possibility of a food allergy, then other reasons for the symptoms need to be considered.

The symptoms could be due to an intolerance to certain foods, which is different to an allergy.

Even the possibility of gastrointestinal disease should be considered.

Only an intensive allergological investigation can confirm or disprove the presence of a food allergy.

These findings were presented in the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International.

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