Six million children in the United States have food allergies, and the Centers for Disease Control reports an 18 percent increase in the prevalence of food allergies from 1997 to 2007. Every three minutes, a food allergy sends a child to the emergency room.
Source:
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-stomach-flu-linked-food-allergies.html (http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-stomach-flu-linked-food-allergies.html)