Food allergies in Britain DOUBLE in a decade but a third of sufferers don't have potentially lifesaving EpiPens, major analysis finds READ MORE: EpiPen shortage meant chance to save Hannah Jacobs was missed By Kate Pickles Health Editor For The Daily Mail Published: 18:30 EDT, 28 August 2024 | Updated: 18:30 EDT, 28 August 2024 e-mail View comments Food allergies have more than doubled in a decade, new research shows. Analysis of more than 13 million UK patients show rates have risen sharply yet around a third of sufferers do not have potentially lifesaving EpiPens. Pre-school children carry the biggest risk with 4 per cent of under-fives having a suspected allergy, compared to around one per cent of adults.
Experts said its rising prevalence showed the importance of ensuring GPs and other community staff — such as nurseries — are sufficiently trained to care for those at risk of severe food allergy. Food allergy occurs when the immune system overreacts to certain foods, such as peanuts, eggs, cows' milk or shellfish. The findings come after recent high profile cases such as that of 13-year-old Hannah Jacobs (pictured), who tragically died within hours of taking a sip of a Costa Coffee hot chocolate, containing cow's milk in 2022 Earlier this month, a coroner noted 'neither Hannah or her mother were carrying an epi-pen that had been prescribed' on the day she died.
Pictured, Hannah's mother, Abimbola Duyile, holds a picture of her daughter outside East London Coroner's Co.