Study shows allergy prevalent in infants

The study, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, assessed 5000 one year old children, to determine their allergy to a range of common allergic foods including raw egg, peanuts, sesame, shellfish and cow's milk.

Infants underwent skin prick testing, and those with any sensitisation to one or more foods were invited to attend an allergy research clinic and underwent an oral food challenge.

The study found more than 10 per cent of one year old infants had an allergic reaction to a food challenge.

Lead researcher, Gastroenterologist and allergy specialist Katie Allen, said the rise of allergies was similar to that of the asthma epidemic in the 1990s, and equally as mysterious.

"If you went out into the community and asked adults how many had food allergies when they were kids, almost none did," Associate Professor Allen said.

"But if you walk into a classroom now, almost every class has at least one child with a food allergy," she said.

However, Professor Allen and her colleagues agree that the increase may be related to the 'modern lifestyle' and requires further investigation.

While some allergies, such as to egg, tended to disappear later in childhood, allergies to tree nuts and peanuts were least likely to resolve themselves and were the most likely to trigger life-threatening anaphylaxis.

Professor Allen said food allergy clinics were already overloaded and waiting lists were longer than a year in every state.