In short: no, not yet. However, there is research going on around the world attempting to make that a possibility. Scientists are running large birth cohort studies – including one in Canada called the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development study, which is recruiting 5,000 babies from four Canadian centres and will study them for five [...]

With so many more people affected by food allergies today than in the past, everyone wants to know: what is causing food allergy? And, perhaps even more at issue for new parents: is there a way to prevent it in my child? How does allergy develop? When a baby is born, the child’s immune system [...]

Tree nut allergies are one of the most common food allergies in children and are on the rise. A major study in the United States recently found that cases of tree nut allergy in children increased significantly in a decade, from 0.2 per cent in 1997 to 1.1 per cent in 1998. The same study [...]

Soy allergy is one of the more common allergies in North America, and is on the priority allergen list for both Canada and the United States. However, it’s unclear exactly how many people suffer from the allergy. Peanuts are the most common legume that people will react to, and about 5 per cent of peanut [...]

Shellfish allergy is the most common allergy in Canada, affecting 1.42 per cent of the population. Most sufferers are adults: 1.69 per cent have the allergy, compared to just 0.5 per cent of children. Fish allergy is less common, affecting 0.18 per cent of children and 0.56 per cent of adults. In general, food allergy [...]

While sesame is one of the more common food allergens in North America, its incidence is still relatively small compared to allergens such as peanut and tree nut. In Canada, 0.9 per cent of people have the allergy and in the United States that figure is 0.1 per cent. For other seeds, such as mustard, [...]

Peanut allergies are one of the most common food allergies in children and are on the rise. A major study in the United States recently found that cases of peanut allergy in children more than tripled in a decade, and that more than 3 million Americans now have a peanut or nut allergy. In Canada, [...]

Dr. Antony Ham Pong, an Ottawa allergist and clinical researcher, estimates that up to 10 per cent of the general population has oral allergy syndrome. That means the condition affects more people than milk allergy, peanut allergy or shellfish allergy. OAS is a condition that’s linked to hay fever, which affects a third of the [...]

Milk and egg allergy are both common in children. In the United States, 2.5 per cent of children under the age of 3 have a milk allergy. Egg allergy affects 1.5 to 3.2 per cent of children. Many children will have both milk and egg allergy. It used to be common for children to outgrow [...]

Food allergy is on the rise in North America and other developed countries. In Canada, an estimated 7.5 per cent of people have food allergies, representing more than 2.5 million people. In the United States it’s estimated that 12 million Americans (or just under 4 per cent of the population) have food allergies. A major [...]