It's the Bryan Lair Show on WNYC.

Welcome back everybody.

I'm Brigid Bergen, filling in for Bryan today.

You may have noticed in recent years that menus and restaurants across the city and

elsewhere are coming with a lot more information about potential allergens.

Even along your grocery store shelves, items are labeled dairy-free, soy-free, peanut-free.

And if you've got a kid in school, you know there are so many brands that make classroom

safe treats that ensure there is no trace of any of those irritants.

And peanut butter is frequently forbidden in schools due to so many severe allergies.

And it's not just marketing.

Food allergies are on the rise, having doubled in children between 2000 and 2018 according

to the CDC.

There isn't comparable, there isn't a comparable data set for adults, but other research tends

to say the same.

So why are we so allergic all of a sudden?

Andrew Vandam who writes the weekly Department of Data Column for the Washington Post recently

crunched the data on the question and what's behind the uptick in kids and adults alike.

He joins us now.

Andrew, welcome back to WNYC.

Thank you so much.

And we're also joined by Christopher Michael Warren, Assistant Professor of Preventative

Medicine and Director of Population Health at Northwestern University's Center for Food

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