title: Why Does Australia Appear to Have the Highest Rates of Food Allergy?
abstract: Australia has reported the highest rates of food allergy, using the gold standard, oral food challenge. This phenomenon, which appears linked to the "modern lifestyle" and has coincided with the explosion of the new diseases of affluence in the 21st century, dubbed "affluenza," has spurred a multitude of theories and academic investigations. This review focuses on potentially modifiable lifestyle factors for the prevention of food allergy and presents the first data to emerge in the Australian context that centers around the dual allergen exposure hypothesis, the vitamin D hypothesis, and the hygiene hypothesis.
authors.affiliation: Centre of Food and Allergy Research, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne 3052, Australia; Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne 3052, Australia; Department of Gastroenterology and Clinical Nutrition, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne 3052, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, The Royal Children's Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3052, Australia; Institute of Inflammation and Repair, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. Electronic address: katrina.allen@rch.org.au.
authors.forename: Katrina J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.affiliation: Centre of Food and Allergy Research, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne 3052, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, The Royal Children's Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3052, Australia.
authors.forename: Jennifer J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Koplin
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene; D018928:Immunity, Mucosal / Q000502:physiology; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000276:immunology; D008019:Life Style; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D007073:Immunoglobulin E
keywords: Food allergy; Hygiene hypothesis; Microbial exposure; Migration; Peanut allergy; Prevalence; Vitamin D