More and more children are being diagnosed with food allergies. The National Center for Health Statistics reports that from 1997 to 2007, reported food allergies in children under age 18 increased 18 percent. Yet the NCHS’s parent organization, the Centers for Disease Control, can’t explain why. An NCHS report says “The mechanisms by which a person develops an allergy to specific foods are largely unknown.” According to the CDC, about 4 percent to 6 percent of children in the