food allergy epidemiology forecast

Key Highlights

• As per the Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) (2024), from 2018 to 2019 in the US, the most common allergens are shellfish (8.4 million), milk (6.2 million), peanuts (6.2 million), tree nuts (3.9 million), and fish (2.7 million) in both adults and children.
• The high incidence of anaphylaxis and serious allergic reactions (SAR) among patients in the high-risk cohort underscores a significant unmet medical need.
• The total number of diagnosed prevalent cases of food allergy in the 7MM was ~60,277,000 in 2024, with the highest number of diagnosed prevalent cases in the United States.
• There is a higher prevalence of food allergy cases among males than females in the 7MM, based on gender-specific data in 2024.
• Among the 7MM, the US comprised 60% of the total 7MM diagnosed prevalent cases of food allergy in 2024; these cases are expected to increase throughout the forecast period (2025–2034).
• Among EU4, Spain accounted for the largest number of diagnosed prevalent cases, followed by Germany, whereas France had the lowest number of cases in 2024.
• Among children in the 7MM, cases of mild to moderate food allergies were more common than severe cases, whereas in adults, severe cases were more prevalent.

DelveInsight’s “Food Allergy – Epidemiology Forecast – 2034” report delivers an in-depth understanding of food allergy, historical and forecasted epidemiology in the United States, EU4 (Germany, France, Italy, and Spain) and the United Kingdom, and Japan.

Geography Covered

• The United States
• EU4 (Germany, France, Italy, and Spain) and the United Kingdom
• Japan

Study Period: 2020–2034

Food Allergy Understanding

Food Allergy Overview

Food allergy is defined as an immune reaction to proteins in the food and can be Immunoglobulin (Ig) IgE-mediated or non-IgE-mediated. IgE-mediated food allergy is a global health issue that affects millions of people and various aspects of their lives. Any food can cause an allergy, but overall, only a small number of foods account for the vast majority of allergies. This includes milk, eggs, fish, Crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans. Allergic reactions can affect the skin, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems, with symptoms including hives, vomiting, coughing, wheezing, throat tightness, tongue swelling, a weak pulse, dizziness, and, in severe cases, life-threatening anaphylaxis. Multiple symptoms may occur simultaneously across different body systems. There is currently insufficient evidence to support a protective effect of the early introduction of allergenic foods other than peanut and egg. Although it is plausible that similar mechanisms of protection may be present for other foods, such as tree nuts, it is also possible that different “windows of opportunity” exist for different foods. One notable example is cow’s milk, with a recent randomized controlled trial (RCT) showing a reduction in cow’s milk allergy at age 6 months with daily cow’s milk formula ingestion from 1 month to 2 months of age compared with cow’s milk avoidance during this early life period.

Food Allergy Diagnosis

Patients with food allergies, especially those with asthma, a history of severe reactions, or allergies to peanuts, nuts, seeds, or seafood, should carry self-injectable epinephrine and have a written emergency plan. Diagnosis involves in vivo methods such as skin-prick tests and allergy blood tests, which measure allergen-specific IgE levels. Intradermal testing is not recommended due to its high risk of false positives and severe reactions, whereas Atopy Patch Tests (APTs) may be helpful in specific cases, such as eosinophilic esophagitis. The oral food challenge remains the gold standard for confirming food allergies. In vitro testing, including sIgE blood tests such as the RadioAllergoSorbent Test (RAST) and Fluorescence Enzyme ImmunoAssay (FEIA), is useful when skin tests are not feasible. The advanced AllerScan test enhances accuracy by detecting IgE reactivity to specific allergenic epitopes, enabling precise food and environmental allergy profiling.

The differential diagnosis of food allergy includes several conditions that may present with similar gastrointestinal or systemic symptoms. These include factitious disorder, esophagitis and esophageal motility disorders, giardiasis, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Other potential mimickers include bacterial or viral gastroenteritis, lactose intolerance, and rare conditions such as Whipple disease. Careful clinical evaluation and appropriate testing are essential to distinguish true food allergies from these other disorders.

Further details related to diagnosis will be provided in the report…

Food Allergy Epidemiology

The food allergy epidemiology chapter in the report provides historical as well as forecasted epidemiology segmented by the total diagnosed prevalent cases of food allergy, allergen-specific diagnosed prevalent cases of food allergy, gender-specific diagnosed prevalent cases of food allergy, severity-specific diagnosed prevalent cases of food allergy in the 7MM covering the United States, EU4 (Germany, France, Italy, and Spain) and the United Kingdom, and Japan from 2020 to 2034.

• The total number of diagnosed prevalent cases of food allergy in the 7MM ranges from approximately 60,276,500 in 2024.
• Among the gender-specific contributions, males had the highest occurrence of cases from ~19,309,000 in 2024 in the US.
• In EU4 and the UK, the maximum number of food allergy cases was in Spain, with ~5,775,500, whereas the minimum number of cases was reported in  France in 2024.
• The total number of diagnosed prevalent cases of food allergy in Japan was ~2,669,600 in 2024.
• In 2024, within the 7MM, based on severity in adults, the number of food allergy cases was higher in severe cases (24,979,000) than in mild to moderate cases. These numbers are expected to rise by 2034.
• In 2024, shellfish allergy was the most common type of food allergy in the US, with the highest number of cases: 8,549,100.

Food Allergy Report Insights

• Food Allergy Report Insights
• Patient population
• Country-wise epidemiology distribution

Food Allergy Report Key Strengths

• Ten years forecast
• 7MM coverage
• Food allergy epidemiology segmentation

FAQs

• What are the disease risks, burdens, and unmet needs of food allergy? What will be the growth opportunities across the 7MM concerning the patient population with food allergy?
• What is the historical and forecasted food allergy patient pool in the US, EU4 (Germany, France, Italy, and Spain), the UK, and Japan?

Reasons to Buy

• Insights on patient burden/disease prevalence, evolution in diagnosis, and factors contributing to the change in the epidemiology of the disease during the forecast years.
• To understand key opinion leaders’ perspectives on the diagnostic challenges to overcome barriers in the future.
• Detailed insights into various factors that hinder disease diagnosis and other existing diagnostic challenges.