Swiss researchers are working towards a universal allergy therapy using a molecular decoy. This therapy aims to work by distracting the overactive immune system, making the body behave as if it is under attack by a bacterium.  The distraction diverts any reaction away from otherwise harmless allergens.

A major study on asthma and allergies is being launched to follow 5,000 Canadian children from their mother's pregnancy until the age of five. Researchers will investigate the role of environmental exposures, infections, nutrition and genetics in the development of asthma and allergies.

Buckwheat allergy cases are rare.  However, a 57-year-old businessman in Taiwan has nearly been killed three times in the past three years after unwittingly ingesting food items containing small amounts of buckwheat flour. 

Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine are preparing to conduct the first of three clinical trials on an herbal formula to determine whether it protects people with peanut, tree nut, fish, or shellfish allergy from anaphylaxis. The formula comprises an extract of nine herbs that have been used extensively in traditional Chinese medicine.

The New York state departments of health and education have produced standardized guidelines, for managing food allergies and anaphylaxis in public schools throughout the state, titled ‘Making the Difference: Caring for Students with Life-Threatening Allergies’.

A recently published opinion paper considers the lack of standardisation for the clinical and scientific assessment of proteins before they are labelled as allergens. The authors maintain that food allergens are being reported and recorded in allergen databases, with minimal or in some cases apparently no published justification; IgE binding, rather than clinically relevant reactivity, is inappropriately used to confirm allergenicity.