Dr. James Li says some food allergies can be tricky to diagnose.  For example, it's easy to tell if someone's allergic to peanuts because they can immediately get hives and have difficulty breathing…

That's because there's not been a reliable test to confirm the presence of the specific cells involved. But now, Dr. Li and his research team at Mayo Clinic have developed a new way to aid diagnosing such cases. "Food allergies, allergies in general are characterized by the presence of eosinophils."

WDEF  by Joe Legge, 10/15/09

Tags: Allergy, food allergies