Food allergy and intolerance research

Posted by Andrew Wadge on February 21st 2008 in Science in Government

I called in on the review of our food allergy and intolerance research programme yesterday.  We carry out formal reviews of our research programmes every five years, where we ask a panel of independent experts help us evaluate the success of the programme against the stated aims and objectives.  I used to head the division that funded this work, so it was interesting for me to see how it's getting on.  I was impressed with the progress we have made on estimating the prevalence of food allergy and intolerance in the UK using different cohort groups.  Reported adverse reactions to foods are common, but diagnosed rates using skin prick tests and double blind placebo controlled methods are much lower (eg, about 1.5% for peanut allergy in young children), although in population terms this is a significant number.  The work done on gaining a better understanding of the immunological aspects of food allergy, such as the role of peanut-specific T cell responses and the role of IgG, was also impressive.

Looking forward, there are many challenges, but two stand out for me.  First, understanding better the route and timing of exposure to food allergens (we are jointly funding a randomised control trial of early introduction of allergenic foods to induce tolerance in infants).  And second, finding a way of identifying thresholds for food allergens so that instead of labelling lots of foods with 'may contain nuts' when there may only be trace contamination, we can increase the choice of foods available to allergenic consumers.

Why not have a look at the range of projects we are funding in this programme and let us have your thoughts on how this programme should be developed?

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Food allergy

Posted by claire morgan (not verified) on 22/05/2008 - 11:12

To add to this discussion, why not come along to the following meeting?

Food Allergy: a global perspective
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
BioPark Hertfordshire

Food allergy has now reached epidemic proportions in the UK where the personal, social and economic cost extends not only across the nation but affects other developed countries as well. This has prompted the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee to publish its report on allergy (September 2007) in which they conclude that evidence-based research into food allergy is urgently needed to ensure that sound scientific evidence underpins public policies.
The aim of this first EuroScicon meeting on Food Allergy is to provide a wider perspective, being unlimited in scope. It strives to provide a broad overview of the following;
• food allergies and intolerances
• the susceptibility to food allergy
• early life origins of food allergy
• food tolerance versus food sensitisation
• effects of food processing on food allergenicity
• industrial dimensions of food allergy
• food allergy and the processing of protein allergens by antigen-presenting cells
• novel foods

Meeting chairs; Dr. Kamal Ivory, Institute of Food Research, Norwich, UK and Professor Claudio Nicoletti, Institute of Food Research, Norwich, UK
This meeting has CPD approval. To see the agenda and/or book, visit www.regonline.co.uk/food09

Allergy and intolerance research

Posted by Ian Kimber (not verified) on 27/02/2008 - 09:57

I saw the comments made on your blog- and thought it would be appropriate to share with you some views of my own about the FSA and the Food Allergy and Intolerance research programme.

It is timely to do this now with the quinquennial review completed.

The first think to say is that the staff involved with this programme are absolutely first rate and a real credit to the Agency.

Sue Hattersley and Joelle Buck have put together an excellent team that are always impressive with respect to their commitment, expertise and productivity. The team as a whole has done a really great job and has built relationships of mutual trust and respect with the contractors. Even the occsional 'difficult' customers are handled diplomatically, but firmly. And of course, the achievements of the team in the T07 programme are even more impressive when one considers the other issues for which they are responsible.

Second, the programme has been very successful - and to my mind has delivered - or is likley to deliver - some really important advances and achievements.

These include:

*Responsibility for drawing attention to the probable importance of the skin as a relevant route of exposure for the acquisition of sensitisation to food proteins (which is not only of tremendous immunological moment, but also has important implications for policy and advise to parents)

*Support for a major intervention study which could have the single biggest impact of any research in food allergy on future disesae prevalence

*Improved understanding of the importance of timing and route of exposure to foods on the subsequent acquisition of allergy - with the promise of developing really clear guidelines for infant feeding and nutrition.

* Probably the best current information anywhere on the prevalence of food
allergy

* Characterising the fastest growing cause of food allergy in the UK - kiwi fruit allergy

* Providing reassurance that the DoH advice on peanut consumption during pregnancy and weaning has not had detrimental health effects (by causing an increase in the incidence of peanut allergy)

* Providing the first really solid evidence that food additives and preservatives are not having an effect on ADHD and the behaviour of childrne of any great moment

* Providing the first really solid evidence that IgG antibodies to food proteins do not impact on the severity of food allergic reactions

*Providing confirmatory evidence that IgG antibody production is a normal response to exposure to food proteins and is not diagnostic of food allergy (thus invaliadting the approach advocated by some ill-informed independent diagnostic services)

* Providing understanding that allergic and non-allergic subjects show differences in T lymphocyte biology. Such differences may - in future - allow the development of novel immunological approaches to identifying susceptible individuals and anticipating disesae progression

With best wishes

Ian

Results

Posted by Andrew Wadge on 27/02/2008 - 09:53

I was sorry to hear about your daughter, and I know that caring for someone with food allergies is can be difficult is a worry.

The Agency publishes the findings of the research work it supports as this becomes available. You should be able to find information about this programme of research on the Agency's website.

The Agency has produced a lot of guidance and background information to help people in your position and this can be found at on the Agency's eatwell website. On the right hand side of the screen you will find links to a couple of factsheets which are designed to help people cope with their allergies and gives tips on reading the labels of pre-packed foods and on eating out.

Results

Posted by Helen Le Voi (not verified) on 25/02/2008 - 19:50

When will you release some of the results of your research. My daughter is multiple protein intolerant and has been since birth. As a family we have struggled to find reliable information that can help us understand her condition.