After analyzing more than 8,000 blood tests, U.S. researchers have discovered that those who have been diagnosed with asthma were twice as likely to have food allergies.
The risk of allergy increased with the severity of the asthma: People who received emergency care for asthma in the last 12 months were seven times more likely to have food allergies than non-asthma sufferers.
Participants in the study were aged from one to sixty years old, and according to a study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, asthmatics are much more likely to have or develop allergies to peanuts, milk, eggs and shrimp.
Researchers targeted children and men as groups more likely than others to have to live with certain dietary restrictions, with the most common allergy being peanuts, especially for children and adolescents.
Jewish Health Associate Professor of Pediatrics Andrew Liu said, “People with a food allergy and asthma should closely monitor both conditions and be aware that they might be related.”
Researchers were unable to determine if food allergies were the cause of the asthma or vice versa, or if both asthma and allergies were manifestations of the same problem.