Scientists believe that through the skin allergies begin, through the diet, allergies can stay quiet. The next is what I'm going to call dirt, having good microbiome, having access to animals. For example, there's been a lot of farm studies showing that if you live on a farm and you're exposed to a lot of animals, you actually have less likelihood of getting food allergy.
Food allergies appear to be increasing globally, but as scientific understanding improves, some experts believe we may one day be able to eliminate them altogether. Ian Sample speaks to Dr Kari Nadeau, an allergy specialist at Harvard School of Public Health and author of the book The End of Food Allergy, to discuss why food allergies are on the rise and what we can do to prevent – and possibly even cure – them. Help support our independent journalism at
theguardian.com/sciencepod