Food hypersensitivity

Atopic disorders, which include a number of diseases such as asthma, allerg ic rhinitis and food allergies affect a large group of the general populati on particularly in industrialized countries. Due to the increasing prevalen ce of food allergies, potential severity of reactions and chronicity of som e hypersensitivities, they represent a major public heath problem in terms of morbidity and expenses. Detection of newborns at high risk and subsequen t preventive intervention in those infants are therefore important. The fol lowing review will issue characteristics of food hypersensitivities and wil l focus on current markers for prediction of atopy and preventive measures usually used. New therapeutic strategies and possible future directions wil l. as well be discussed. Significant progress has been made in genetic and in immunopathogenesis of this disorder leading to a better understanding of the mechanisms of food allergy, However, further progress in this area wou ld be of interest for prediction of high-risk infants and intervention at a n earlier stage. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.