A study on self-reported food allergy in young adults from various colleges in Kerala, India

Abstract

Food allergy is defined as a reproducible adverse immune reaction to food proteins. Food allergy is defined as per the new US guidelines as “an adverse health effect arising from a specific immune response that occurs reproducibly on exposure to a given food.” 1 “Food allergens” are typically naturally-occurring proteins in foods or derivatives of them that cause abnormal immune responses. Food allergy affects “more than 1-2% but less than 10%” of the population. 2 The exact prevalence of food allergies is unknown. A meta-analysis published revealed significant heterogeneity in prevalence rates due to different methodologies and population. 3