A breathtaking one in five people in the U.S. has a health condition related to food—from disruptive sensitivities and intolerances to serious allergic reactions that can send them to the ER.

These food-related problems are on a historic rise across all ages. And the spectrum of these ailments is wide and deep, with many tricky “masqueraders” in the mix to create a lot of confusion, potential misdiagnoses, and faulty or poor treatment—and immeasurable suffering for millions of people. The good news: Dr. Ruchi Gupta, on the front lines of this silent epidemic, now shares revolutionary research from her lab and clinical practice.

In her latest book Food Without Fear, Dr. Gupta illuminates this misunderstood spectrum and offers a new approach to managing adverse reactions to food with a practical plan to end the misery and enjoy eating with ease.

Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH, is a professor of pediatrics and medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a clinical attending at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. Dr. Gupta has more than 17 years of experience as a board-certified pediatrician and health researcher and currently serves as the founding director of the Center for Food Allergy & Asthma Research (CFAAR), and is world-renowned for her groundbreaking research in the areas of food allergy and asthma epidemiology, most notably for her research on the prevalence of pediatric and adult food allergy in the United States.