Why people get food allergies

Main Category: Allergy
Article Date: 24 May 2004 - 0:00 PDT


We don't know exactly why some people have a food allergy and others don't. But someone is more likely to develop a food allergy if they have a parent, brother or sister with an allergy of any type. The tendency to develop an allergy is called atopy.

Children under three years old are more likely to develop allergies than adults. Lots of food allergies begin in childhood but disappear as the child gets older. However, some people never outgrow their allergy, and others develop a food allergy as adults.

Eating habits, for example how often a person has eaten a particular food, are also thought to be important. This might be why allergies to particular foods are more common in some countries where they are eaten a lot, for example, fish allergy in Scandinavian countries, rice allergy in Japan and peanut allergy in the US.

But eating habits don't seem to be the whole story. For example, peanut allergy is either very rare or unheard of in Indonesia and parts of Africa, even though peanuts are commonly eaten in these countries. Some experts believe that allergy is now more common in some countries than others because of lifestyle. People in more affluent westernised countries seem to be more likely to develop all types of allergy than people in developing countries.

We don't know exactly how many people in the UK have a food allergy. About 20 to 30% believe they are intolerant to one or more foods. However, tests show that only about 5 to 8% of children and 1 to 2% of adults actually have a food intolerance. We think about 10 deaths a year in the UK are caused by food allergy.

The number of people who suffer from food allergy in developed countries seems to have increased in recent years, but we don't have definite information about this. If food allergy has been increasing, this would match recent increases in allergic diseases such as asthma, eczema and hay fever.

http://www.foodstandards.gov.uk

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