According to an author of the report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, new analysis suggests food allergies are rarer than previously thought. While, 30% of people claim to have them, less than 5% of adults and 8% of kids actually do. The New York Times reports, researchers examined over 12,000 studies on food allergies and found, even those diagnosed had a less than 50% chance of being truly allergic.

Oft used allergy test are one of the reasons behind the inconsistency, which tests look for IgE antibody levels, which are higher in the event of an allergic reaction. However, the Times reports many people who produce IgE antibodies after being exposed to particular foods, may not react to such foods at all.

Dane, 18, suffering from life-threatening food allergies, has milk, eggs, peanuts, shellfish, chicken, potatoes, and garlic, and many other foods on his Do Not Eat List.

In order, to avoid having to make a trip to the emergency room, Dane does not eat anything from restaurants or vending machines, making every thing from scratch.

But while, his allergies are real, the incidence of food allergies are far less, according to a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Some of these are self-diagnosed, with heartburn or food intolerance misinterpreted for an allergy. Others are the misinterpretation of allergy test results by doctors, who have asked them to avoid foods they don't really need to.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' commissioned study and the resulting paper will help a panel of experts write new guidelines on how to define, diagnose and treat food allergies, scheduled to be released end June.

The gold standard of allergy testing is what is known as an oral food challenge, which test is unfortunately very time-consuming, which is why many doctors are reluctant to do it.

However, if you are concerned you might have a food allergy, see a doctor, who will ask what happened when you ate the food, whether you exhibited symptoms like runny nose, itchy skin, rash.

Adults who had food allergies in the past, but have not had a reaction in four or five years get themselves re-tested, as no foods should be reintroduced unless under the supervision of a doctor. There being a small change of the person having a severe reaction.