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Food Allergy and Intolerance Week
22nd – 26th January 2007
Food management is very much in everyone’s thoughts following Christmas. Most people will be reading labels as they battle to remove the pounds put on over the holiday season.
However for nearly half of the population reading labels and carefully watching the food they eat has to be a daily occurrence if they are to stay well and in some cases avoid risking their lives.
2% of the population suffer from life threatening allergy but when coupled with the larger number of people (estimated to be in the region of 45%) who suffer from food intolerance, which whilst not life threatening impacts severely on all aspects of their life, means that almost half of the population are adversely affected by the food they are eating.
Allergy UK wanted to gain a greater understanding of the difficulties facing people with adverse food reactions, so recently undertook a survey of 5,200 people with food problems. The findings, which are published in the latest edition of the ‘Stolen Lives’ series, clearly shows sufferers feel that their symptoms are treated dismissively by health care professionals and they are left without proper guidance and advice despite the very significant impact on their lives. This in turns drives them to seek alternative and clinically unproven methods of diagnosis and treatment. The Stolen Lives Report can be viewed on our web site www.allergyuk.org as from Monday 22nd January 2006.
For Further Information Contact:-
Muriel Simmons - 07949 534643
Lindsey McManus - 01322 619898