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American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Meeting
March 25, 2011
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Children in rural areas may have smaller risk for developing food allergies

Could living in the country protect against development of food allergy in children?

According to new data from China presented during the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the prevalence of food allergy may be lower in rural areas vs. urban areas.

“Studies have shown that a rural environment is protective against the development of asthma. Food allergy is often the first manifestation of the ‘atopic march’ in individuals who are prone to develop multiple allergies,” Gary W. K. Wong, MD, the study’s lead researcher, said in a press release. “Thus, it would also be important to determine if a rural environment is protective against food allergy.”

Wong and colleagues recruited children aged 6 to 11 years from Hong Kong, Beijing, Guangzhou and rural Shaoguan. A total of 28,283 children were enrolled in the study and a parent or guardian was asked to fill out two questionnaires. In addition, a random case-control sample of 1,780 children was recruited for skin-prick testing and to determine their specific immunoglobulin E levels.

The researchers defined probable food allergy as having symptoms to a certain food within 2 hours of ingestion and a skin-prick test of 3 mm or more. Using these parameters, they found the rate of probable food allergy to be 3.8% in Hong Kong, 2.6% in Beijing and 1.8% in Guangzhou vs. 0.2% in rural Beijing and 0.1% in rural Shaoguan.

“All our subjects were of the same genetic background, and our results clearly showed that food allergy is far less common in the rural populations. It is highly likely that there are important modifiable rural environmental factors protecting against the development of food allergies. Detailed studies of the rural environment to identify these protective factors will be our next step of research,” Wong said.

This study was supported by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council and the European Commission’s EuroPrevall project.

For more information:

  • Wong GWK. #118. Presented at: 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology; March 18-22, 2011; San Francisco.
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