Researchers have found evidence that genetics play a role in the development of peanut allergies in children.
But their findings also suggest that genetics may not be the only cause.
Food allergies have been rising rapidly in the U.S. over the past 20 years and it is now estimated that 1 in 13 children have the conditions. Reaction to peanuts is the most common food allergy and is also the most-often fatal. It is also often a lifelong condition.
Public health researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore analyzed DNA from 2,759 participants (1,315 children and 1,444 of their biological parents). Most of the children had some kind of food allergy.
They scanned approximately 1 million genetic markers across the human genome, searching for clues to which genes might contribute to increased risk of developing food allergies, including peanut.
They discovered that a certain genomic region located on a particular chromosome accounted for about 20 percent of peanut allergies in the study population.
Not everyone with these mutations develop peanut allergies. They theorize that other changes that affect the DNA must occur, such as environmental exposures that occur before birth or shortly after the baby is born.
The researchers said their findings are a good “first step” to new drug treatments, lifestyle fixes, or nutrition changes that could help treat and prevent peanut allergies.
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