Education

Facts and Statistics

Key information to help better understand food allergies and anaphylaxis.

FARE works on behalf of the millions of Americans who have food allergy, including those at risk for life-threatening anaphylaxis. This page includes important facts and statistics that can help you better understand food allergies and anaphylaxis.

An expanded facts and statistics document, including citations, can be downloaded here.

Each year in the U.S., 200,000 people require emergency medical care for allergic reactions to food.

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Facts & Statistics

What Is a Food Allergy?

A food allergy is a medical condition in which exposure to a food triggers a harmful immune response. The immune response, called an allergic reaction, occurs because the immune system attacks proteins in the food that are normally harmless. The proteins that trigger the reaction are called allergens.
The symptoms of an allergic reaction to food can range from mild (itchy mouth, a few hives) to severe (throat tightening, difficulty breathing).
Anaphylaxis is a serious allergic reaction that is sudden in onset and can cause death.

To Which Foods Are People Allergic?

How Many People Have Food Allergies?

Researchers estimate that 33 million Americans have food allergies, including 5.6 million children under age 18. That’s one in 13 children, or roughly two in every classroom.
Studies published in 2018 and 2019 estimate the number of Americans of all ages who have convincing symptoms of allergy to specific foods:
- shellfish: 8.2 million
- milk: 6.1 million
- peanut: 6.1 million
- tree nuts: 3.9 million
- egg: 2.6 million
- fin fish: 2.6 million
- wheat: 2.4 million
- soy: 1.9 million
- sesame: 0.7 million
About 40 percent of children with food allergies are allergic to more than one food.

Food Allergies Are on the Rise

Food Allergy Reactions Are Serious and Can Be Life-Threatening.

Every three minutes, a food allergy reaction sends someone to the emergency room.
Each year in the U.S., 200,000 people require emergency medical care for allergic reactions to food.
Childhood hospitalizations for food allergy tripled between the late 1990s and the mid-2000s.
More than 40 percent of children with food allergies and more than half of adults with food allergy have experienced a severe allergic reaction such as anaphylaxis.
Medical procedures to treat anaphylaxis resulting from food allergy increased by 380 percent between 2007 and 2016.

Serious Allergic Reactions Require Immediate Treatment

Once a serious allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) starts, the drug epinephrine is the only effective treatment.
Epinephrine (also called adrenaline) should be injected within minutes of the onset of symptoms. More than one dose may be needed.
Easy-to-use, spring-loaded syringes of epinephrine, called epinephrine auto-injectors, are available by prescription.
Not treating anaphylaxis promptly with epinephrine increases the risk of a fatal reaction.

Food Allergy Impacts Quality of Life

Who Is at Greatest Risk?

Compared to children who don’t have food allergy, children with food allergy are two to four times as likely to have other allergic conditions, such as asthma or eczema.
Compared to non-Hispanic white children, African American children are at significantly greater risk of developing food allergy.
Delaying introduction of allergenic foods does not provide protection against food allergy. In fact, feeding peanut foods early and often to babies with egg allergy or eczema dramatically reduces their risk of developing peanut allergy.
While most food allergies arise in childhood, at least 15 percent of patients with food allergies are first diagnosed in adulthood. More than one in four adults with food allergies report that all of their food allergies developed during adulthood, and nearly half of adults with food allergy report having developed at least one food allergy during adulthood.
Approximately 20-25 percent of epinephrine administrations in schools involve individuals whose allergy was unknown at the time of the reaction.
Severe or fatal reactions can happen at any age, but teenagers and young adults with food allergies are at the highest risk of fatal food-induced anaphylaxis.
Individuals with food allergies who also have asthma may be at increased risk for severe or fatal food allergy reactions.
Most fatal food allergy reactions are triggered by food consumed outside the home.
More than 15 percent of school-aged children with food allergies have had a reaction in school.

Can Food Allergies Be Outgrown?

Is There a Cure?

There is no cure for food allergy. Food allergies are managed by avoiding the problem food(s) and learning to recognize and treat reactions symptoms.
Food allergy therapies are under study in clinical trials.
One product has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat peanut allergy in children aged 4-17, but no products are approved yet for other food allergies or for peanut allergy in other age groups.

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