Food Allergies More Common in Kids Born in the Fall

 May 4, 2012 0 Comments  Posted in News, Science & Research, Children, Food Safety, Immunity, Immune Health, Allergens, Food Allergies, Bakery / Cereal, Grains / Pasta / Tuber, Gluten, Soy, Nuts, Peanuts, Fish, Dairy, Milk, Egg, Frozen / Refrigerated Foods, Snack Foods, Beverages, Wheat, Demographic Print BALTIMORE—Johns Hopkins School of Medicine researchers investigating the mechanisms by which season of birth impacts on food allergy risk suggest children born in the fall have a higher risk of food allergies, according to a new study published in the journal Allergy. The study found a significantly increased risk was seen only for Caucasians and those with eczema.  The researchers examined data from 5,862 children in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III and 1,514 children with food allergies from the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Allergy Clinic (JHPAC). They found fall birth is associated with increased risk of food allergy, and the risk is greatest among those most likely to have seasonal variation in vitamin D during infancy (Caucasians) and those at risk for skin barrier dysfunction (subjects with a history of eczema), suggesting that vitamin D and the skin barrier may be implicated in seasonal associations with food allergy.  The findings support research recently conducted at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University that found children with low levels of vitamin D have a greater risk of developing food allergies.