More Children Have Allergies, CDC Reports

WASHINGTON (Reuters) Oct 22 - About 3 million U.S. children have a food or digestive allergy -- an 18% increase over the past 10 years, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Wednesday.

Eight types of food account for 90% of these food allergies: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and wheat, the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics found.

Reactions range from a tingling sensation around the mouth and lips, to hives and sometimes even death in the most severe cases.

Children with a food allergy are two to four times more likely than other children to have asthma and other allergies, as well. The report found that in 2007, 29% of children with a food allergy also had asthma, compared to 12% of children without food allergies.

About 27% of children with a food allergy had eczema or other skin allergies, compared to 8% of most children, and 30% had respiratory allergies, compared with 9% of the general population under the age of 18.

Overall, 3.8% of boys and 4.1% of girls had food allergies, the NCHS found.

No one knows how or why children develop food allergies. Most children outgrow the allergy, although some remain allergic for life.