Many Food Allergies May Develop in Adulthood
;
Is the roof of your mouth itchy after
a peanut butter sandwich? Does your skin break out in hives after
you've cracked your way through a lobster dinner?
It's possible you're one of the many adults who developed a food allergy as
an adult, a new study says.
Researchers
surveyed adults with food allergies and
found that nearly half said that one or more of their allergies began
in adulthood.
"Food
allergies are often seen as a condition that begins in childhood, so the idea
that 45 percent of adults with food allergies develop them in adulthood is
surprising," said study lead author Dr. Ruchi Gupta. She is with
Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
Shellfish
is the most common food allergy among U.S. adults, currently
at 3.6 percent. That's a 44 percent increase from the rate of 2.5 percent
reported in a 2004 study. The new study also found that the rate of adult tree
nut allergy has increased from 0.5 percent in
2008 to 1.8 percent, a 260 percent increase.
"Our
research also found that among black, Asian and Hispanic adults, the risk of
developing a food allergy to certain foods is higher than for whites,
specifically for shellfish and peanuts," said study co-author Christopher
Warren, also from the Feinberg School of Medicine.
"For
example, Asian adults were 2.1 times more likely to report a shellfish allergy than
white adults, and Hispanic adults reported a peanut
allergy at 2.3 times the frequency of white adults," he
said.
The
study is scheduled for presentation Friday at the American College of Allergy,
Asthma and Immunology's annual meeting, in Boston. Findings presented at
meetings are typically viewed as preliminary until they've been published in a
peer-reviewed journal.
"Because
many adults believe food allergies mostly affect children, they may not think
to get tested. It is important to see an allergist for testing and diagnosis if
you are having a reaction to a food and suspect a food allergy," Warren
said in a meeting news release.
--
Robert Preidt
Copyright © 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
SOURCE:
American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunolog
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