THE number of pre-schoolers with potentially life-threatening food allergies has soared five-fold in the past decade but experts are at a loss to explain it.
A new report has found a dramatic increase in national hospital admissions for anaphylaxis, particularly among children under the age of five.
Peanut allergies are the most common, followed by egg, cows' milk and cashews.
Between 1994 and 2005, the number of admissions for allergy attacks rose from 39 in every million youngsters to 194.
Allergy specialist Professor Raymond Mullins, the author of the report published in the Medical Journal of Australia, said the huge increase had been reflected in private allergy practices nationwide and was probably just the 'tip of the iceberg'.
"People like myself are seeing this kind of extraordinary increase on a smaller scale all over the place so there's a very clear trend, but we just don't understand it," Prof Mullins said.
A survey of his own
The increase was seven-fold for the most serious type of reaction, anaphylaxis, an immediate, often violent, whole body response which requires urgent medical treatment.
"It's important for people to realise that were not talking about tired or hyperactive kids, or a child with a snotty nose. That's not an allergy," Prof Mullins said.
"We're talking about proven allergic reactions soon after food, such as severe facial swelling and rashes, vomiting and in some cases, potentially dangerous breathing difficulties or collapse."
He described food allergies as the 'new kid on the block', a relatively recent phenomenon unfamiliar to older generations, and it is poorly understood.
"We know it's specific to the Western world and that it's more and more common but we don't know why," Prof Mullins said.
The most popular explanation - that humans have become too clean for their own good - could justify environmental allergens like dust, but not food.
Other options are links to breast milk, an increase in older mothers or more exposure to potentially allergenic foods.
The report calls for urgent, large-scale studies to confirm the increase, evaluate the impact on the nation's health budget and plan for better prevention and new treatments.
"One day we hope to be able to say that we have a way of desensitising to food, like we already can with hay fever and venom allergies," Prof Mullins said.
Article from: AAP
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