Unfortunately, the prevalence of allergic diseases (such as food allergy, asthma, eczema, hay fever) appears to be increasing. In particular, it seems that the number of people diagnosed with food allergy is increasing. About 6 percent of young children have food allergies, along with nearly 4 percent of adults. Whether this increase in incidence is due to a better understanding of the disease, better methods to make a diagnosis or a true increase in the number of people with food allergy is not totally clear.

Can you outgrow an allergy?

There are certain foods that infants and young children tend to be allergic to: milk, egg, wheat, soy, and — as they grow a bit older — peanut, tree nuts, fish and shellfish. Fortunately, most children outgrow milk and egg allergies by 2 or 3 years old. However, with peanut allergy, some children may develop it later in life, or may develop allergy to it during adulthood. Once peanut allergy is developed, about 20 percent of people may “outgrow” it. We don’t yet have a clear understanding of who will likely outgrow a peanut allergy (as we do for those who outgrow foods like milk and egg), but it is probably those people who have a low blood level of the allergic antibody, IgE, to peanut.