It is been disheartening to learn from my patients that there are ongoing issues with ‘food sensitivity’ tests being marketed and sold to parents leading to children being advised to restrict their diet.
I have written about this recently but wasn’t aware of the extent this is a problem globally. CBC news in America produced a great investigative report on this issue:
Why is this happening?
There may not be a quick solution, allergy education and skills for both primary care doctors and all paediatricians (not just allergy specialists) is likely a key part of a solution. But the workload these professionals already have is not getting smaller! An experienced colleague gave me his take:
Parents seek alternative avenues because they are not assured of timely help with usual routes of care
GPs are very stretched for time and it takes time to do an allergy focused assessment
The tsunami of referrals means we are forced to respond with advice and guidance letters and for many parents this is not adequate
Baby and Child Health 
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