more people are claiming food allergies than ever before so much so throwing a dinner party these days is a gastronomic minefield it begins with the required question that must be attached to every dinner invitation what dont you eat and ends with the cook tearing his or her hair out trying to make several different versions of the same meal because everyone says they have food allergies or preferences why has food become such an allergic trigger a report in life scientist says that as many as 11 million americans have food allergies that send victims to the hospital in droves only about 150 people die each year from allergic reactions to food but it seems odd that although we live in a time when we no longer forage through the forest and might unknowing eat toxic stuff food allergies are on the rise in fact the allergies are to commonly ingested foods such as milk eggs wheat soy nuts and fish according to hugh samson of mount sinai medical school and the food allergy initiative food allergies are a case of the immune system going haywiremost of the food we eat is broken down in the digestive tract but some bits of protein end up in the bloodstream where they are usually perceived by the immune system as harmless in some people the immune system doesnt react properly and instead produces an antibody that attacks these proteins sending the body into allergic shock the rise in allergic reactions is real sampson feels because culture has changed the way foods are introduced into the diet for example peanut allergies are highest in western culture and this may be because we wait so long to eat peanuts in cultures where peanuts are on the menu early no one seems to need a peanutfree classroom for example the leading kid snack food in israel is bamba a corn puff made with peanut butter and there seem to be few israeli kids with peanut allergiesin contrast kids in hebrew school in england where there is no bamba often have peanut allergies culture also plays a role in food preparation that might be a setup for allergic reactions sampson points out that africans boil their peanuts while american eat them dryroasted dry roasting it appears make the peanuts into little allergy bombs just waiting to get into our bloodstreams and cause havoc its also a cultural phenomenon that so many people claim food allergies without being tested which means that certain food might cause intestinal distress or the person imagines the distress but thats not an allergic reaction its also become fashionable in western culture to claim an allergy to dairy or wheat as a cureall for stress upset or an off day but that also doesnt make those foods a medical problem food fear is our own invention and yet one that we have to take seriously if a dinner guest can really end up dead at my house we