New food allergies can develop at any age. That is why most airlines no longer offer peanuts to fliers — a mere sprinkling of peanut dust can prove fatal to some people with peanut allergies. Still, many people who think they have a food allergy actually don’t when they’re tested with a blind oral challenge, in which foods are tested under medical supervision to see if a child reacts, the gold standard for diagnosing food allergies. Sometimes, long-term avoidance of a food can result in an allergic reaction when that food is eventually consumed. Occupational exposures, the use of skin care products, even tick bites can sometimes result in adult-onset food allergies if there is cross-reactivity to an allergenic substance in both.

Source: New York Times July 19, 2021 09:00 UTC