Food Allergies: What Causes Them? And, Can They Be Prevented?

By: Dov Michaeli, MD, PhD

Food allergies are severe, even life-threatening immune reactions. Studies show that some can be prevented by introducing allergens early in life.

Updated on October 25, 2020

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You might think that people are kidding around when they tell you they have food allergies. And, it is true that some types of food allergies are only associated with minor symptoms. But others, such as seafood allergies and peanut allergies can be deadly.

Here’s a tragic example of just such a case from a story in the Washington Post:

“Cod was cooking on the stove when 11-year-old Cameron Jean-Pierre arrived at his grandmother’s home in New York.

Cameron, who had a known allergy to seafood, started to wheeze during the visit this week, so his father said he reached for his son’s asthma medication. But this time, the nebulizer machine that Cameron had used during allergy attacks in the past, did not seem to be working — the young boy could not breathe in the air, his father said.

He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.”

This case is extreme. But it illustrates that even a vanishingly small amount of allergen suspended in the air can…