There has been a rise in the rate of food allergies in children caused by various food items like peanuts in the last 10 years and some ethnic groups have been the most affected.

It was found after a study that food allergies have increased by 18% in children from 1997-2007 whereas care visits to treat food-allergy-related illnesses have tripled in recent years.

There was no variation in the rate of food allergies among girls and boys but the highest increase was noticed among Hispanic children.

Although researchers claim that many reports suggest that food allergies are in the rise, only few resources are available to support this.

Researchers did an analysis of information available from national health surveys which contained information on parent-reported children’s food allergies and allergy-related health care usage from the year 1993 to 2007.

"Reported food allergy is increasing among children of all ages, among boys and girls, and among children of different races/ethnicities," write researcher Amy M. Branum, MSPH, of National Center for Health Statistics at the CDC, and colleagues in the study.

He also added that it can however not be determined as to how much increase can be attributed to clinical disease and awareness by physicians, other health care providers and parents.