Demographic predictors of food allergy

The first North American study to examine the influence of education level, immigrant status, and geographic location on food allergy has found that most food allergies are more prevalent in the more educated and those born in Canada. Shellfish allergy is more prevalent in those residing in urban settings.

Using a food allergy telephone questionnaire, provided by Dr. Scott H. Sicherer from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, a team of researchers from several Canadian universities and health institutes collected data from more than 3,600 households across the nation. Peanut, tree nut, and sesame allergy were more common in children, while fish and shellfish allergy were more common in adults. Tree nut and shellfish allergy were less common in males, while all food allergies were less common in immigrants.

In providing possible explanations for their findings, the authors suggest that a higher education level may be associated with changes in family lifestyle which may render individuals more prone to food allergy due to the hygiene hypothesis. Alternatively, it is possible that more educated parents were more likely to have followed American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendations regarding the restriction of potentially allergenic foods in early life, whereas these measures are now thought to promote, rather than reduce, the development of food allergy. Another explanation may be that educated parents have a greater likelihood of seeking a diagnosis for their allergic child, and therefore the actual prevalence may not be higher.

This interesting paper is available as an open access article, and can be downloaded in numerous formats here.

Reference: Ben-Shoshan et al. 2012. Journal of Allergy. Doi:10.1155/2012/858306