The guidelines, 'Allergy in children and young people', the first to advise on food allergy in children up to the age of 19, warn against the use of all alternative testing, such as hair analysis and the Vega test, which NICE says are not effective in diagnosing allergies.
The number of people with food allergies has dramatically increased in the past 20 years, affecting 6 to 8 per cent of children up to the age of three in Europe and North America. NICE says that of the children who report an allergy, up to 20 per cent have cut out certain foods because they think they are allergic to them, without any confirmed diagnosis, which can often leave them malnourished.
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