NHS Choices launches new food allergy and intolerance myth buster tool

To mark food allergy and intolerance awareness week (23^rd - 29^th January), NHS Choices, the health information website for the NHS (nhs.uk), has launched a new tool to help dispel common myths around food allergy and intolerance.

There is often a lot of confusion around food allergy and intolerance, both in terms of what constitutes each, and how to treat them. For example, a number of surveys have found that 20-30% of people claim to have a food allergy. However, a Food Standards Agency report in 2008 estimated that only 5-8% of children and 1-2% of adults have a food allergy.

The new tool, developed in conjunction with allergy experts from the Food Standards Agency, looks into the most common misconceptions around allergies and intolerances and sorts the facts from fiction.

Ideas explored include:

• The differences between allergies and intolerances
• Whether you can 'outgrow' allergies and intolerances
• The use of home test kits
• Whether allergies and intolerances can be cured

Sue Hattersley, head of food allergy branch at the Food Standards Agency, comments: "It is vital that people can access accurate information about allergies and food intolerances. This new myth-buster tool provides helpful information in an easy-to-use format and I challenge everyone to have a go on it and see how much they really know about allergy"