#303 Allergies, Intolerances and Food Fear: What You Really Need to Know about Testing and Treatment with Dr Helen Evans-Howells
25th Jun 2025
Are you truly allergic to dairy or just intolerant? Can headaches, joint pain or fatigue be signs of hidden allergies? And what about those online food intolerance tests? Can you trust them?
In this episode, Dr Helen brings clarity and evidence to the confusing world of food allergies, intolerances and sensitivities.
We cover:
- 🧠 Whether allergies can show up as migraines, fatigue, gut issues or mood changes
- 🔬 Why allergy rates are rising
- 🧪 The truth about IgG testing and other common myths
- 🥜 Whether it’s safe to give babies peanut or egg before age one, and why early exposure matters
- 💬 How to approach elimination diets and reintroductions safely
- ❤️ The emotional toll on families and where to find support
We also explore rising allergy rates, the hygiene hypothesis, environmental triggers including plant-based proteins, and what is actually working in clinics today, such as immunotherapy and support networks.
If you or someone you love is navigating the food allergy maze, this episode is full of practical and science-based insights.
Dr Helen Evans Howells is a GP with a Master's in Allergy with distinction from the University of Southampton. She trained and worked with the hospital’s allergy team for over four years. She now runs a specialist allergy clinic offering food immunotherapy for children and lectures widely across the UK and internationally. Dr Helen is a trustee of Anaphylaxis UK, Chair of its Clinical and Scientific Panel and former Chair of the Primary Care Group at the British Society of Allergy.
Episode guests
Dr Helen Evans-Howells qualified with honours from Southampton University in 2005 and then trained as a GP, completing this in 2015. Helen became interested in allergy due to her own experiences of managing a child with milk and nut allergies. She undertook the Masters in Allergy at Southampton University and qualified with distinction in 2018.
After working with the allergy team in Southampton Hospital for 4.5years, Helen now runs a private allergy clinic –www.drhelenallergy.co.uk, which provides virtual and face to face allergy consultations. Dr Helen lectures extensively across the UK and internationally. Helen has the only community clinic outside of London which offers food immunotherapy to children under 12, and she also helps run the peanut immunotherapy clinic at Southampton Hospital. Dr Helen has an allergy centre in Ringwood and branch clinic in Belfast.
Dr Helen works tirelessly to support those with food allergies, sending up an online support group and membership, developing an EATS club (eating allergens together safely) to support families with the introduction of allergens in a supervised setting (for those that are nervous /have others with allergies in the family), and working closely with charity.
Helen was the previous chair for the primary care group of British Society of Allergy and is now a trustee for the Anaphylaxis UK Charity and Chair of their Clinical and Scientific panel.
Helen has appeared on The Jeremy Vine Extra show on Channel 5,BBC Radio, the Today Program, Stompcast Podcast and has written for various newspaper articles, raising awareness about allergies and anaphylaxis.
