A common question facing most parents when their child is first diagnosed with a food allergy is: will this allergy last forever?
The latest research from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute found that almost 90% of children outgrow egg allergy by the age of 6.
Outgrowing peanut allergy was not as common, with 30% of children with peanut allergy outgrowing their allergy by age 6.
The researchers hope this news provides some relief for families that have young children with a food allergy.
Australia has the highest rates of childhood food allergy in the world, with around 1 in 10 infants and 1 in 20 children over 5 years of age having a food allergy.
Researchers followed children from the age of 12-months to estimate how many children outgrow common food allergies by the age of 6 years. The HealthNuts Study completed skin prick tests to common food allergens on 5,000 twelve-month-old infants from the community. The infants with a positive skin prick test were invited to complete an oral food challenge at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne to diagnose their food allergy.
The children with challenge-proven food allergy had repeat skin prick tests and food challenges at age 2, 4 and 6 years.
Results showed that around 50% of infants outgrew their egg allergy by age 2, around 80% by age 4 and 90% by age 6.
For peanut allergy, around 20% outgrow by age 4 and 30% by age six.
As the immune system develops in early life, it is reassuring to see some food allergy can naturally be outgrown. Researchers do not yet know why some children outgrow food allergy and others do not. Future research will focus on looking at what happens in the immune system to allow food allergy to resolve naturally.
Managing life with a food allergy involves completely avoiding the food allergen, as well as knowing what to do if there is accidental exposure to the allergen or an allergic reaction.
If you or your child has a diagnosed food allergy, it is important that you do not try to re-introduce the food you or your child is allergic to without advice from your allergy specialist.
Families should discuss with their allergy specialist or GP any questions or concerns they have regarding food allergy management.
Read more on the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute website.
Peters RL, Guarnieri I, Tang MLK, Lowe AJ, Dharmage SC, Perrett KP, Gurrin LC, Koplin JJ. The natural history of peanut and egg allergy in children up to age 6 years in the HealthNuts population-based longitudinal study. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2022 Sep;150(3):657-665.e13. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2022.04.008. Epub 2022 May 18. PMID: 35597613.
1 The prevalence of food allergy and other allergic diseases in early childhood in a population-based study: HealthNuts age 4-year follow-up https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28514997/
2 Prevalence of clinic-defined food allergy in early adolescence: The SchoolNuts study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28755784/