The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice
Original ArticleThe Prevalence of Food Allergy in Young Israeli Adults
Section snippets
Subjects
All recruits (17 years old) from one urban area recruitment center of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), who started their medical evaluation between May and October 2016, were included. By law, all Jewish non-ultra-orthodox 17-year-olds, with the exception of severely handicapped and some psychiatric patients, are obligated to undergo a medical examination in a regional recruitment center, before their army service. This ensures a high catchment of the study population, estimated to be more than
Reported and diagnosed food allergy in cohort
Overall, 12,592 recruits (46.5% males) were evaluated during their recruitment procedure. Food avoidance due to an allergy was reported by 148 recruits (Figure 1), 45.9% of whom were males. Among these 148 recruits, 22.3% (33) carried a physician diagnosis of asthma after the age of 6 years. The prevalence of reported and diagnosed FA for the major allergenic foods is presented in Table I. The most frequently reported and diagnosed foods in this study were tree nuts, milk, peanuts, fish, and
Discussion
This study provides data on the prevalence of FA in young adulthood. All recruits from one urban region in Israel were screened as to whether they eliminated foods due to allergy and their allergy was validated. It also provides information about what clinical characteristics predict true clinical allergy using this approach. The screening procedure reported here provides a framework for evaluation of FA in large epidemiological studies.
The overall prevalence of reported FA in this study
Acknowledgments
Y. Katz is supported by the Leon Alcalay Chair in Pediatric Immunology, Tel Aviv University. M. R. Goldberg is funded by a Kamea grant from the Ministry of Health, Israel. We would like to thank Mali Dook for coordinating the recruits' clinical visits at the Institute of Allergy, Immunology and Pediatric Pulmonology, of the Assaf Harofeh Medical Center. We would also like to acknowledge Professor Jacob Moran-Gilad and Professor Gideon Lack for helpful discussions.
References (34)
- et al.
Food allergy: a practice parameter update-2014
J Allergy Clin Immunol
(2014) - et al.
Mental health and quality-of-life concerns related to the burden of food allergy
Immunol Allergy Clin North Am
(2012) - et al.
Food allergy: a review and update on epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, prevention and management
J Allergy Clin Immunol
(2018) - et al.
Food allergy epidemiology and natural history
Immunol Allergy Clin North Am
(2015) - et al.
The prevalence of food allergy: a meta-analysis
J Allergy Clin Immunol
(2007) - et al.
Self-reported adverse food reactions and anaphylaxis in the SchoolNuts study: a population-based study of adolescents
J Allergy Clin Immunol
(2018) - et al.
Adult-onset food allergies
Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol
(2017) - et al.
Clinical predictors for favorable outcomes in an oral immunotherapy program for IgE-mediated cow's milk allergy
Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol
(2014) - et al.
Skin prick test responses and allergen-specific IgE levels as predictors of peanut, egg, and sesame allergy in infants
J Allergy Clin Immunol
(2013) - et al.
A population-based study on peanut, tree nut, fish, shellfish, and sesame allergy prevalence in Canada
J Allergy Clin Immunol
(2010)
Prevalence of food allergies and intolerances documented in electronic health records
J Allergy Clin Immunol
Epidemiology of food allergy
J Allergy Clin Immunol
Early consumption of peanuts in infancy is associated with a low prevalence of peanut allergy
J Allergy Clin Immunol
Natural course and risk factors for persistence of IgE-mediated cow’s milk allergy
J Pediatr
The natural history of egg allergy
J Allergy Clin Immunol
Prevalence of common food allergies in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Allergy
Prevalence of challenge-proven IgE-mediated food allergy using population-based sampling and predetermined challenge criteria in infants
J Allergy Clin Immunol
Cited by (26)
Feast for thought: A comprehensive review of food allergy 2021-2023
2024, Journal of Allergy and Clinical ImmunologyComprehensive Diagnosis, Management, and Treatment of Sesame Allergy
2024, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In PracticeSystematic Review of the Incidence and/or Prevalence of Eating Disorders in Individuals With Food Allergies
2023, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In PracticePrevalence of self-reported food allergy among adults in Jiangxi, China
2023, World Allergy Organization Journal
Research reported in this publication was supported by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Medical Corps and Directorate of Defense Research & Development, Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMOD DDR&D). This study was funded by grant no. 4440716034 of the Academy section, Medical Corps, Israel Defense Army.
Conflicts of interest: The authors declare that they have no relevant conflicts of interest.