The poor peanut, lifted to such great, heroic heights by George Washington Carver only to be vilified by snotty children with food allergies--food allergies that probably don't exist.

The New York Times' Jane E. Brody reports that food allergies are often misdiagnosed thanks to two tests that often produce false positives. "According to the panel's detailed and well-documented report, about one child in 20 and one adult in 25 have a food allergy, nowhere near popular estimates that up to 30 percent of Americans are afflicted," Brody writes. And most kids grow out of allergies to soy, wheat, eggs, and milk. Dangerous shellfish allergies are present in just 0.5 percent of children.

Brody's article is only one in a series debunking food allergies. The New York Times has been on this story from the start. But people love their food allergies. It makes them special. We expect another report with similar findings in approximately three weeks.

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Elspeth Reeve