Food Allergies Doubled in a Decade, Study Finds

Largest real-world study to date shows sharp increase in young children with the life-threatening condition but does not attempt to address the cause.

T-shirts by the ALRJ brand with customizable logos warning about children's allergies, such as peanuts, nuts, cow's milk, seafood, and gluten, in Cenon, southwestern France, on June 29, 2021. Thibaud Moritz/AFP via Getty Images

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.

Experts analysed data from 13 million patients at GP practices in England, making it the largest study of its kind anywhere in the world with the findings published in the Lancet Public Health journal.

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.

But the data also suggested that newly-diagnosed cases of food allergy may be levelling off in some age groups, although the reasons for this are unclear. The researchers said there is some evidence that giving babies small amounts of common allergens, such as peanuts, at an early age can make them less likely to be allergic.

3rd of Sufferers Don’t Carry EpiPen

Professor Paul Turner, the study’s author who specialises in paediatric allergy, said the analysis “paints an important, if mixed, picture of food allergy in the UK.”

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 study did not attempt to examine the causes behind the exponential rise in food allergies, although some scientists have pointed to the link between a high number of childhood vaccinations and allergy prevalence. In an article for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Children’s Health Defense, also published in The Epoch Times, scientists working for the organisation argue that the frequently declared “bafflement” of experts as to the cause of the allergy epidemic is “puzzling.”

Studies Suggest Link Between Vaccination and Allergy

Discussing the situation in the United States, the authors write: “The massive expansion of the vaccine schedule since the late 1980s, day-of-birth hepatitis B vaccination, changes in vaccine technology and the growing use of immune-dysregulating aluminum adjuvants are all factors that can explain the immune system overactivation currently manifesting in the form of food allergies.”

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.”

“Japan chose to remove gelatin from vaccines two decades ago after confirming a relationship between the protein’s presence in vaccines and anaphylactic and allergic reactions,” the article states, pointing out that gelatin is still used in the MMR vaccine in the United States.

One of the two MMR vaccines used in the UK, known as MMRvaxPro, contains porcine (pork) gelatin, as does the nasal flu spray used for children and the shingles vaccine targeted at older adults.

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.

The government has said there are no plans to appoint an allergy tsar. No link between vaccines and food allergies is officially acknowledged. There are a number of new DNA vaccines in development worldwide aimed at curing food allergies.