Study: Nearly Half Of Kids With Food Allergies Say They’ve Been Bullied.

The Time (12/26, Rochman) “Healthland” blog reports, “Nearly half of kids with food allergies say they’ve been bullied, and a third report that the bullying was food-related.” Lead author Dr. Eyal Shemesh, associate professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical Center, and colleagues “looked at 251 children ages 8 to 17 who came to Mount Sinai’s allergy clinic with a parent. Both children and parents answered detailed questions about bullying.”

The Huffington Post (12/24, Pearson) reports, “Overall, 45 percent of the children and teens – who were between the ages of 8 and 17 – said they’d been bullied, and 31.5 percent said it was because of their food allergy.” The researchers found that “the bullying was most likely to happen while they were in school and included others teasing them, waving food in their face, throwing food at them, or forcing them to touch the food that triggers their allergies.”

Related Links:

— “Bullying over Food Allergies,”Bonnie Rochman, TIME, December 25, 2012.

Posted in In The News.