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Professor Nicholas Christakis at the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School has stirred up a furore by claiming, in the bmj-on-line, that measures to control nuts are actually making things worse in a cycle of over-reaction and increasing sensitisation. But does he have a point?
About 3.3 million Americans are allergic to nuts; 6.9 million are allergic to seafood. All told, serious allergic reactions to all foods cause just 2,000 hospitalisations a year and 1 50 deaths (children and adults). Meanwhile 50 people die each year from bee...