Individuals with food allergy develop symptoms after eating foods that for the vast majority of the population are part of a healthy diet. The only way for the allergic individual to manage food allergy is to avoid eating the food that causes the allergic reaction. The level of avoidance required may seriously impair the quality of life of the food allergic individual. The impact also extends to the people (e.g. family, friends, and teachers) around the allergic individual, as all have to be vigilant to protect the allergic individual from the foods, which may trigger an allergic reaction.

For that reason, the quality of life of a significant part of the population may be affected by food allergy. We cannot know the extent of the problem without knowing the percentage of people with food allergy in the community.

Read EuroPrevall report on the percentage of people with food allergy in the community


References
R.J. Rona, T. Keil, C. Summers, D. Gislason, L. Zuidmeer, E. Sodergren, S.T. Sigurdardottir, T. Lindner, K. Goldhahn, J. Dahlstrom, D. McBride, C Madsen (2007). 
The prevalence of food allergy: A meta-analysis.
J Allergy Clin Immunol 120(3), 638-646.

L. Zuidmeer, K. Goldhahn, R.J. Rona, D. Gislason, C Madsen, C. Summers, E. Sodergren, J. Dahlstrom, T. Lindner, S.T. Sigurdardottir, D. McBride, T. Keil (2008). 
The prevalence of plant food allergies: a systematic review. 
J Allergy Clin Immunol 121(5), 1210-1218.

More information
EuroPrevall website
InformAll database - for detailed information on the foods, which may cause allergic reactions