New research suggests that race and ancestry play a role in whether children develop certain food allergies, but not in the ways you might assume.
The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, has found that black children are more than twice as likely as white children to have sensitivities to eight foods that commonly cause allergic reactions, especially peanuts. But, although the study used genetic indicators to determine race, researchers found that the reason that Black children had more of these allergies was likely because of environmental and social reasons — not just genetics. Meaning that, with further study, solutions to the higher rate of food allergies among Black children could be found.
"Overall, black children seem to be at higher risk of being sensitive to foods, but if you break down that risk, self-identifying as black explains the risk to milk and egg allergens but not to peanut, while ancestry explains some of the risk to peanut allergens," said Dr. Rajesh Kumar according to CNN. "That may mean that different factors go along with an individual's self-identified race compared to their genetic ancestry."
According to the study, the factors that may contribute to the higher rate of food allergies could include cultural beliefs about when babies should be introduced to milk, which can affect how newborns' immune systems react to it, and the low vitamin D levels of African-American newborns, which has already been linked to a higher risk of developing allergies.

(Photo: dpa/Landov)