Europrevall review food allergy factors

Monday, 19 October 2009 13:28

A paper by the international food allergy research collaboration Europrevall looks at the many risk factors associated with allergy, and those specific to food allergy. The following is an excerpt from the paper’s abstract:

Food allergy is unusual in that it often manifests itself very early in life and commonly remits with the development of tolerance. Hypotheses that explain the distribution of food allergy include specific genetic polymorphisms, the nature of the allergens involved and the unique exposure to large quantities of allergen through the gut. Progress has been made in developing more specific and testable hypotheses but the evidence for any of these is still only preliminary. Further collaborative research is required to develop an appropriate public health response to this growing problem.

Reference: Cochrane et al. Allergy, Vol 64(9) pp. 1246-1255(10)