‘Most people who think they have a food allergy or intolerance are just paranoid’: Doctor says many of us are on a ‘self-diagnosed food fad’……
Oh dear, the Mail is at it again and it is the same story, carrying the same inaccuracies as it was the last umpteen times they ran it.
On this occasion, Alex was more on the ball than I was and has already penned an excellent riposte – Will the Mail ever change their ‘It’s all in your head’ tune?
Please read it (it is quite short) as he covers both the inaccuracies in the Mail’s story and the really unacceptable attitude of some parts of the media far better than I could.
Blast and double blast. Who do they think they are? I am seething. I have had it up to here with people’s attitudes about allergies. The reason so many people ‘self diagnose’ is that they KNOW the food is affecting them, but it is so hard to get an allergy referral and diagnosis. You have to practically drop down with anaphylaxis to get taken seriously. To get any help with food intolerances is infinitely more difficult – and many don’t find an understanding doctor or nutritionist who can help them through the grueling process of an elimination diet. What am I going to do now this weekend? My blog is meant to be features in the Mail on Sunday as the first Health blog in a new feature – now I don’t want to buy the bloody thing… Grrrrrr
Ruth, you are so right….. I feel quite guilty that both Alex and I were being so measured and ‘professional’ – but you are are absolutely right to be furious. How do they bloody dare! The trouble is that it is a good old chestnut to dig out when there is not that much juicy news around. I would hope that any health journo working on or for the Mail would by now be better informed – they have been told often enough.
And note that what Dr Singh actually said is that ‘many people who cut out food groups are self-diagnosed, or have not been properly tested’. Too right – because there are no ‘tests’ available for them to take! And how much of the rest of the article did he actually write, I wonder? I know it has come out under his name, but I suspect some enthusiastic subs saw their moment to create a shock/horror story.
Of course the Mail does not confine its global ignorance to the Allergy sector. Anything that does not conform to their version of a mythical middle England is in the line of fire. Look at what they are doing to the Labour Party. But, perhaps it shouldn’t be taken too seriously. Anybody who buys into the Mail’s mass paranoia is almost certainly a lost cause. More rational members of society have long since learned to grin and ignore it.