Food Allergies On The Rise

First published June 2013
Updated December 2025

It happens at least once a week in my office. A parent or grandparent will ask "Why are there so many more children with peanut allergy these days?" This is typically followed by the statement, "When I was growing up, I didn't know anyone who had food allergies."

It is true –food allergies are on the rise. Most estimates are between 1 in 8 to 10 children in the United States have a diagnosis of food allergy. This is more than just peanut and includes other common allergens such as milk, egg, wheat, soy, tree nuts and seafood.

There is no consensus as to why this is the case, but there are several theories. Part of the rise in diagnosis comes from increased awareness from families and physicians, as well as more easily accessible testing, either through skin prick testing at an allergist's office, or blood testing that can be ordered by any physician. Another theory is called the "Hygiene Hypothesis", which basically states that as our society has shifted from living on farms into cities, we have less exposure to microorganisms. Our immune system no longer has to practice fighting off infections and instead turns its attention to harmless proteins/allergens.

Bottom line, the rise in food allergies, and allergies in general, can be attributed to several different phenomena and there does not appear to be one clear link. We do know that what a mother eats while pregnant or breast feeding does not cause or prevent food allergies. Why one child develops food allergy and another does not is likely due to a complex interaction of genetic predisposition and early life exposures.

Thankfully, we now have evidence-based recommendations on ways to try and prevent food allergies from developing. Over the past decade, there have been multiple large studies that show feeding allergenic foods to babies beginning around 4 to 6 months of age AND keeping in their diet consistently can dramatically reduce risk for developing food allergies. You should not rub food on your child’s skin as a “test,” and we should not be doing a bunch of allergy testing prior to introduction as these both often raise false alarms. Early introduction is safe, and most babies will enjoy eating these new foods without any reactions. However, nothing we do in medicine is 100% effective so you should always contact your pediatrician if you have concerns that your child had an allergic reaction after eating any food. This most often causes itchy hives on their skin and/or vomiting within an hour of eating a food.

Lastly, if your baby does develop a food allergy, they should be seen by a board-certified allergist. At our Food Allergy Treatment Center, we are treating babies with oral immunotherapy which can both protect them from accidental ingestion and potentially cure their allergy as well.