People need to re-train their palate so they can eat savoury and not crave sugar says Helen O’Callaghan

Welcome to your Monday morning briefing. Let us ensure you’re up to speed on what’s happening and are prepared for the day ahead.

Public hospital services for treating children with allergies are completely swamped with year-long waits for first appointments, and three-year waits for a vital food allergy test at the country’s most established paediatric allergy centre.

Guidelines on diagnosis and management of childhood food allergy have been published for the first time, says Ruth Charles

Children with potentially fatal food allergies are forced to wait up to three years to be tested because hospital screening services cannot cope with demand.

IRELAND has one of the fastest growing rates of obesity. The National Taskforce on Obesity says 40% of Irish adults are overweight and 18% of those are obese. Our children are following suit. With Nourish Children Week (Apr 15 to 19) just behind us, experts say children should be fed properly from the moment they eat solids.

A MOTHER and daughter shopping trip ought to be a happy occasion but one Dublin-based mother dreads it. “My 10-year-old daughter has been overweight for a few years now and has become increasingly ashamed of her body as a result,” says the mother, who asked not to be named.