Food allergy. Part 1: Immunopathogenesis and clinical disorders☆☆☆★

Received 16 February 1999; accepted 2 March 1999.

Abstract

Up to 8% of children less than 3 years of age and approximately 2% of the adult population experience food-induced allergic disorders. A limited number of foods are responsible for the vast majority of food-induced allergic reactions: milk, egg, peanuts, fish, and tree nuts in children and peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish in adults. Food-induced allergic reactions are responsible for a variety of symptoms involving the skin, gastrointestinal tract, and respiratory tract and may be caused by IgE-mediated and non-IgE-mediated mechanisms. In part 1 of this series, immunopathogenic mechanisms and clinical disorders of food allergy are described. (J Allergy Clin Immunol 1999;103:717-28.)

Keywords: Food allergy, hypersensitivity, food intolerance, urticaria, food–associated exercise–induced anaphylaxis, asthma, allergenic epitope, allergic eosinophilic gastroenteritis, enteropathy, dietary protein–induced enterocolitis, dietary protein–induced colitis, oral tolerance, atopic dermatitis, anaphylaxis, allergic rhinitis, pulmonary hemosiderosis, celiac disease, dermatitis herpetiformis

Abbreviations: APC: , Antigen-presenting cell, DBPCFC: , Double-blind, placebo-controlled, oral food challenge, IEC: , Intestinal epithelial cell, OAS: , Oral allergy syndrome, tTGase: , Tissue transglutaminase

Jaffe Food Allergy Institute, The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York. New York, NY

☆ Supported in part by AI-24439 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and RR-00052 from the General Clinical Research Center Program.

☆☆ Reprint requests: Hugh A. Sampson, MD, Department of Pediatrics, Box 1198, The Mount Sinai Medical Center, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10029-6574.

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