Having a child with a food allergy and not knowing when they’ll have a life-threatening reaction is frightening. They used to be relatively uncommon, but unfortunately, allergies have increased dramatically over the past few decades and in Australia, it’s now estimated that up to 10% of children have a serious food allergy. It’s even been called the Allergy Epidemic.

Why is there an allergy epidemic?

Allergic or atopic conditions (eczema, food allergies, asthma & hay fever) all have a clear genetic component and run in families. But inheritance alone cannot explain the rapid increase as it takes thousands of years for genes to change. Instead, it’s the influence of the environment that seems to provide the answers. The fact that this ‘epidemic’ is widespread in industrialised countries further supports this.

-The world we live in has changed and we’re struggling to adapt-

Science has desperately tried to understand this. Notably, the hygiene hypothesis and then the old friend’s hypothesis have been proposed. Although they have differences the common message is that our children lack the exposure to the microbes needed to properly train their immune system.

Children born today are often subjected to overly sterile environments, excessive antibiotics and an entirely different diet to our ancestors. We are seeing the impact of this on our children’s health.

It’s important to distinguish between bad microbes that cause disease and good microbes that promote health. No one is suggesting our children need to get sick or that simple hygiene should be abandoned, but humans need exposure to certain microbes to shape their immune system. A large part of this is the formation of a robust gut microbiome, known to be central to a healthy immune response.

Can we prevent food allergies?

Regardless of all this research, we unfortunately don’t know how to prevent food allergies with certainty. However, the emerging science does present some suggestions.

I’ve summarised much of the research into 3 factors for you to consider and to implement.

1. Supporting a healthy microbiome

2. Early exposure to food

3. Correct exposure to food

Supporting a healthy microbiome is a large subject in itself but some steps you can take are minimising unnecessary antibiotics, encouraging time outdoors in nature and around animals and by understanding what children should be eating. Children’s diets should focus on a diverse range of foods including prebiotics (undigestible fibre from plant foods) as well as probiotics (fermented foods).

Early exposure to allergenic food helps prevent food allergies. Allergenic foods are those most likely to cause allergies and include cow’s milk dairy, soy, eggs, nuts, wheat and seafood. Early exposure includes women eating a variety of foods during pregnancy and breastfeeding but more importantly knowing how to introduce foods to babies. Children should be having allergenic foods from when they’re ready to start solids (approximately 4- 6 months old) aiming to include all in their diet by their first birthday.

Correct exposure to allergens may sound odd but could explain why some children with eczema later develop food allergies. One theory is that they’re being exposed to food proteins in an abnormal way. If a child has eczema their skin doesn’t function properly as a barrier. This means that food proteins can enter the body abnormally via the skin causing sensitisation. So when a child then eats the food, they’re primed to have a reaction to it. This can be minimised by controlling children’s eczema well, avoiding skin products with ‘food’ in it (e.g., almond oil) and not wiping food on their skin to see if they react.

I find all of this research fascinating and hopeful. We may not yet have a clear solution to food allergies but none of these suggested lifestyle changes are harmful. Many are actually beneficial for overall health and wellbeing. So really, there’s not much to lose.

Dr Deb Levy is a qualified paediatrician and mum to two young girls. Wanting to offer more than conventional medical services, she has created a unique holistic health program that teaches parents how to help their children to thrive. When she’s not supporting families you’ll find her doing yoga, baking or hanging out with her family & dog. You can read more at www.drdeblevy.com or connect on Instagram @drdeblevy

Can We Prevent Food Allergies by Dr Deb Levy