Where We Live: Combating Food Allergies

Thirty years ago, food allergy was extremely rare. Today, about 5.9 million U.S. children under 18 suffer from this potentially life-threatening condition.

That’s 1 in every 13 children. Or, to look at it another way, one student per classroom has a food allergy. What’s more, nearly 2 out of every 5 affected children suffer from a severe food-allergy.

Researchers from Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago conducted a recent online allergy study of almost 40,000 parents, released this month in the journal "Pediatrics."  they found that food allergies are growing more common and more severe.

Today, where we live, we revisit a problem that has many parents concerned - including one of our own reporters.

And we’ll explore how doctors are using oral immunotherapy to help tame some of the allergic symptoms.

***This episode was originally broadcast on July 6, 2011***