A Brief Review on the Update of Food Allergy and Improving Diagnostic Accuracy

Abstract

There is a growing prevalence of food allergies (FAs) in the urbanized world, and they have a significant impact on the lives of allergy patients and their families. It may be possible to find definitive ways to treat and prevent FAs if we study the risk factors that have contributed to this increase and the immune mechanisms that underlie them. At the moment, peanuts and other allergenic foods can be introduced to the diet during weaning to prevent the development of FAs. Food immunotherapy and biologics are making the transition from lab to clinic, improving diagnosis, management, and support of FA patients. The diagnosis of FA can also have a significant impact on patients and their families, imposing dietary restrictions and social restrictions. Misdiagnosis, however, can result in a potentially lifethreatening allergic reaction. An accurate diagnosis of FA is therefore essential. Often, FA sensitization is determined by a combination of clinical history and allergen specific IgE; however, without an allergy history, IgE sensitization tests can be difficult to interpret. Additionally, there are rare cases of clinical FAs without IgE sensitization. Therefore, oral food challenges (OFCs), which are currently the gold standard for diagnosing FAs, are ideal for testing for suspected FAs. Besides providing a brief update on FA, the review discusses the predictive value of different tests used to diagnose FA, discusses implications for therapy and prognosis, and proposes a diagnostic approach for clinical use.