Food+Disorder

Food Disorder

FOOD DISORDER!

Food allergy, a growing clinical and public health problem in the United States and worldwide, is likely determined by multiple environmental and genetic factors. The purpose of this review is to summarize recent advances in food allergy genetic research. There is compelling evidence that genetic factors may play a role in food allergy. However, the specific genetic loci that may modulate individual risk of food allergy remain to be identified. Genetics in food allergy is a promising research area but is still in its infancy. More studies are needed to dissect susceptible genes of food allergy. A genome-wide association approach may serve as a powerful tool to identify novel genes related to food allergy. Furthermore, the role of gene-environment interaction, gene-gene interaction, and epigenetics in food allergy remains largely unexplored. Given the complex nature of food allergy, future studies need to integrate environment, genomics, and epigenomics in order to better understand the multifaceted etiology and biological mechanisms of food allergy.