Food allergies have more than doubled in a decade, new research shows.
Analysis of more than 13 million UK patients shows rates have risen dramatically, but around a third of patients do not have life-saving EpiPens.
Preschool-aged children are at greatest risk: 4 percent of those under five have a suspected allergy, compared with about one percent of adults.
Experts said its increasing prevalence demonstrates the importance of ensuring GPs and other community staff (such as nurseries) are sufficiently trained to care for those at risk of severe food allergy.
Food allergies occur when the immune system overreacts to certain foods, such as peanuts, eggs, cow’s milk, or shellfish.
The findings come after recent high-profile cases such as that of 13-year-old Hannah Jacobs (pictured), who tragically died within hours of taking a sip of Costa Coffee hot chocolate, which contained cow’s milk in 2022.
Earlier this month, a coroner said that “neither Hannah nor her mother were carrying an Epi-Pen that had been prescribed for her” on the day of her death. Pictured here, Hannah’s mother Abimbola Duyile holds a photograph of her daughter outside East London Coroner’s Court earlier this month.
In severe cases it can cause anaphylaxis, which can cause swelling of the airways, difficulty breathing and cardiac arrest if not treated urgently.
In the largest real-world study of allergies in the UK, researchers at Imperial College London analysed GP and hospital records for allergy-related incidents between 2008 and 2018.
They found that the number of new cases of probable food allergy doubled from 76 to 160 cases per 100,000 during this time, a jump from 0.4 to 1.1 percent of the population, before beginning to level off.
In children and young people under 20 years of age, it increased from almost one to 2.41 percent, according to findings published in the journal Lancet Public Health.
Children under five had the highest rates of “probable” allergy in 2018, at 4 percent, compared with 2.4 percent in 5- to 9-year-olds, 1.7 percent in 15- to 19-year-olds and 0.7 percent in adults.
This represents an increase from 1.2, 0.9, 0.8 and 0.2 percent respectively.
Scientists said new cases have begun to decline, possibly due to changes in infant feeding guidelines that no longer recommend delaying the introduction of foods such as peanuts to infants or those at risk of allergy.
Lead author Dr Paul Turner, professor of paediatric allergy at Imperial, said: ‘This new analysis paints an important, albeit mixed, picture of food allergy in the UK.
‘The good news is that while the prevalence of food allergy has increased, the number of new cases occurring each year appears to have stabilized.
‘Yet more than a third of patients at risk of severe reactions do not carry life-saving rescue adrenaline auto-injectors, such as EpiPens.
“We need to urgently address this and better support GPs and primary care staff who end up caring for the vast majority of food allergic patients in the UK.”
Most patients, including those with previous anaphylaxis, were seen in primary care settings, such as a GP surgery, and only one in ten were seen at least once by a hospital specialist over a decade.
Prescriptions for adrenaline auto-injectors in people with previous anaphylaxis were estimated to be 64 per cent for children and young people and only 55 per cent for adults, and were less common for people living in more deprived areas of the country.
The findings come after recent high-profile cases such as that of 13-year-old Hannah Jacobs, who tragically died within hours of taking a sip of a Costa Coffee hot chocolate, which contained cow’s milk, in 2022.
Prescriptions for adrenaline auto-injectors (pictured) in people with previous anaphylaxis were estimated to be 64 per cent for children and young people and only 55 per cent for adults, and were less common for people living in more deprived areas of the country.
Earlier this month, a coroner noted that “neither Hannah nor her mother were carrying a prescribed Epi-Pen” on the day she died.
Dr Turner added: ‘Food allergy can have a huge impact on people’s lives and, in some tragic cases, can shorten lives.
‘By better understanding the prevalence of food allergy in the UK and working with affected people, their families, scientists and clinicians, we are working together to reduce that impact.’
The cause of this increase is unknown; one theory suggests it could be partly due to increased awareness, while others suggest it could be due to less exposure to germs and changes in gut bacteria.
Advice on exposure has also changed over the years and parents are now advised to introduce allergenic foods as early as possible.
Until 2009, the official policy was not to give peanuts to children with a family history of peanut allergy until they were at least three years old, and to everyone else until they were at least one year old, whereas now experts suggest that they should be given small doses as soon as possible.
