Food Allergies Doubled in a Decade, Study Finds

A new study has revealed the number of people with a food allergy has more than doubled over a decade, from 0.4 percent of the population in 2008 to 1.2 percent in 2018.
Researchers at Imperial College, London, found the sharpest increase was in preschool-aged children, with 4 percent of under-5s having some form of food allergy in 2018, which is up from 1.2 percent in 2008.
Food allergy prevalence in children aged 5 to 9 was 2.4 percent, while it stood at 1.7 percent for 15- to 19-year-olds and 0.7 percent for all adults over 19 in 2018, data showed.
A dietary allergy occurs when the immune system overreacts to certain foods, such as cows milk, peanuts, eggs, or shellfish.
In severe cases it can lead to anaphylaxis, which can cause swelling of the airways, breathing difficulties and cardiac arrest if not treated urgently, usually with an EpiPen containing adrenaline.
He added: “The good news is that while the prevalence of food allergy has increased, the numbers of new cases occurring each year look to have plateaued.
“However, more than one-third of patients at risk of severe reactions do not carry potentially life-saving rescue adrenaline autoinjectors, like EpiPens,” he added, pointing out that those living in the most deprived areas were less likely to carry the medication.
Turner said there is an “urgent need” to better support GP surgeries caring for patients at risk of severe food reactions, as the study found 90 percent of those with allergies were not under the care of a hospital specialist.
The authors point out that scientists use a variety of proteins to prepare vaccines, and that researchers acknowledge “that any of these components is capable of triggering an allergic reaction, but they believe that proteins such as egg and gelatin may be especially likely to do so.”
In June, more than 50 leading allergy campaigners called for the incoming government to appoint an “allergy tsar” in an open letter authored by The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation. The charity was founded by the parents of 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who died after eating a Pret-a-Manger baguette containing sesame flour, which caused her to have a severe reaction on a flight.