Britons 'wrongly diagnosing food allergies'

Managing food sensitivities by eating correctly and wearing an allergy alert bracelet are very important if you're likely to react badly to a particular food.

However, some people are apparently putting themselves at risk by mistakenly diagnosing themselves with a food allergy.

According to Dr Carina Venter of the University of Portsmouth, only about one to two per cent of people are genuinely allergic to certain foods.

Despite this, about a fifth of us apparently think we have some kind of intolerance.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Dr Venter said this is partly because people are not going to the doctor to find out what is really behind their symptoms.

As a result, many are cutting whole food groups out of their diet, leaving themselves open to more health problems.

'It only takes a few years of cutting food groups out to have a much longer-term impact,' Dr Venter warned.

According to official figures, about one in four Britons are likely to be affected by allergies at some time in their lives.