ANAHEIM, Calif. (Nov. 9, 2023) – It's estimated that 33 million Americans have food allergies, including 5.6 million children under age 18. The cause of food allergies is unknown, although researchers and food allergy experts have ruled out some common theories of how they develop. A new study being presented at this year's American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting in Anaheim, Calif. shows that, among people who suffer from food allergies, common themes arose regarding when their food allergy developed and coinciding with certain events including, eating too much of the allergenic food; genetics and family history; antibiotic use; and eating too little of the allergenic food.
"Through an NIH-supported Food Allergy Prevalence Questionnaire, we collected nationally representative data for 38,408 children and 40,443 adults," said Christopher Warren, PhD, ACAAI member and co-author of the study. "We know there are many theories about how food allergies develop, and there are many causal factors that likely contribute to the present food allergy epidemic. We have never had the opportunity to directly ask a large, national sample of food allergy patients and pediatric caregivers about the factors they noticed as related to their own food allergy development. When we directly engaged these food allergy patients/caregivers, nearly one in five reported that eating too much of an allergenic food coincided with their food allergy development, while 12% of adults reported that antibiotic use did. Notably, nearly one in four caregivers of children under the age of 17 reported that their child's food allergy development coincided with a viral infection."
Survey respondents were categorized as having self-/parent-proxy reported food allergy, convincing food allergy according to reported food-allergic reaction symptoms consistent with an IgE-mediated response, as well as reported cases of convincing food allergy that were physician diagnosed.
"We now know that eating certain allergenic foods, like peanuts, if eaten starting in infancy, can prevent peanut allergy," says Ruchi Gupta, MD, ACAAI member and senior author of the study. "Allergists and other health care professionals can help get the word out to parents of infants and others that it's preventative to introduce certain allergenic foods early in life. For new-onset adult allergies, understanding potential triggers that may be involved with the development of an allergy is critical. Factors like infections, changes in the environment, and hormonal changes may be factors contributing to developing an allergy later in life and need more exploration."
Abstract Title: Understanding perceived determinants of food allergy in a US population-based sample of children and adults
Presenter: Rachelle Liu, BA
