Food allergy: how much in the mind? A clinical and psychiatric study of suspected food hypersensitivity

Lancet. 1983 Jun 4;1(8336):1259-61. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(83)92707-1.

Abstract

Objective evidence of food hypersensitivity was sought by the use of exclusion diets and provocation tests in 23 patients who attributed a wide variety of symptoms to food allergy. Hypersensitivity to ingested substances was confirmed in 4, each of whom presented with typical atopic symptoms. None of these had psychological symptoms, but a high incidence of psychiatric disorder was found in patients whose belief that they had a food allergy could not be confirmed.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Female
  • Food Hypersensitivity / diagnosis*
  • Food Hypersensitivity / psychology
  • Humans
  • Interview, Psychological
  • Male
  • Mass Media
  • Mental Disorders / diagnosis
  • Middle Aged
  • Psychophysiologic Disorders / diagnosis
  • Psychophysiologic Disorders / psychology
  • Somatoform Disorders / diagnosis
  • Somatoform Disorders / psychology