Nothing to Sneeze At

Adult-onset allergies are on the rise. Here are some theories why

- Viviane Fairbank

THE WORLD IS full of allergens from food, bugs, pollen, latex, drugs, mould and animals—for a start. Many of us assume that our susceptibility to them develops only during childhood, so if you’re allergyfree in your 20s, you’re in the clear. But researchers are discovering that it’s possible for adults of all ages to acquire allergies—even if they’ve never had one before.

In 2019, for the very first systematic study of allergies in adulthood, the Center for Food Allergy & Asthma Research (CFAAR) surveyed approximately 40,000 people and found that one in 10 were food-allergic. Half of those people, the survey revealed, developed at least one of their allergies after the age of 18.

“We were very surprised by the results,” says Ruchi Gupta, CFAAR’s director. Her team had long suspected, based on anecdotal evidence, that rates of adult-onset food allergies were rising, but they didn’t expect the number to be so high.