The World Health Organisation estimates that food allergies affect more than 10% of the world's population. And the numbers have been growing consistently in the 21st century, e.g. in the United States the number of people with food allergies has doubled in each of the last two decades; in the UK, the number of people with peanut allergies increased fivefold from 1995 - 2016.

Experts believe the causes of these increases to be environmental, i.e. that they are related to modern lifestyles and our risk-averse obsession with avoiding anything which may be harmful. Dietary choices, city living and its pollution, and a much reduced exposure to certain bacteria have all contributed, according to research, to a significant increase in the allergic population (for the sake of balance, I will add that research carried out in 2022 looked specifically at genetic connections to allergies and found that the evidence was ‘sparse’…).

What everyone can agree on is that the problems faced by consumers with severe allergies are real and potentially life-threatening. To take the United States again as an example, the USDA estimates that food allergies in the US results in 30,000 emergency room visits, 2,000 hospitalisations and 150 deaths each year. 

Given the scale of the issue (and the undeniable fact that it is increasing all the time), a bit of good news on future management of severe allergies is very welcome. This story in Food Manufacture details work carried out by nine NHS hospitals in a trial supported by The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation. The trial aimed to desensitise children to key allergenic proteins (in this case cow's milk and peanut) though a process called oral immunotherapy. The process involved giving participants microdoses of the target allergen and monitoring reactions to judge any increase in tolerance. Early-stage indicators are positive, with children showing the ability to tolerate much higher exposure to these allergens than previously. This research follows on from previous initiatives, EAT (Enquiring About Tolerance) and LEAP (Learning Early About Peanut) which both explored the value of early introduction of allergens to infant diets. If successful, it may be a way forward for management of allergies without reliance on medicines, and may also start to remove some of the fear that sufferers have of ambiguous food labelling and vague or unhelpful restaurant menus. 

It is a particularly important, and poignant, moment for the founders of The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, Tanya and Nadim Ednan-Laperouse, whose daughter Natasha died in 2016, aged 15, after eating a baguette containing sesame seeds. 

In the longer term, we may see the use of similar immunotherapy schemes to assist with other allergies. For now, we need to support end-to-end allergen risk management through supplier control, site audits, labelling approval and testing, to protect the vulnerable consumer.