Seven European countries participate in edge cutting research that will aid better understanding of food allergic incidents

The Anaphylaxis Campaign has played a key role in the world’s biggest ever study of food allergies.  An ‘Allergic Reactions in the Community’ survey is being launched in several European counties on 7^th April 2016. This questionnaire has been developed to record allergic reactions to food – from mild symptoms to anaphylaxis, as part of the European  iFAAM (Integrated Approaches to Food Allergen and Allergy Risk Management) project.  The AlleREACT  survey evolved from a pilot scheme (AlleRiC)  that was launched in 2013 in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

“This research is a vital and much-needed step forward, it will aid better understanding and management of food allergies and we are delighted to be part of it. The tool has been developed using patients’ contributions and the outcomes of this research may have important implications for food allergic people in Europe.”  Lynne Regent, CEO, Anaphylaxis Campaign.

Food allergy is a chronic disease being in the same group as asthma or diabetes with no known cure. Up to 20 million European citizens suffer from allergies. Management of the disease by patients and health practitioners, and allergens by industry faces many challenges. There is general poor understanding of environmental or psycho-social aspects contributing to, or preventing allergic reactions to food, and no systematic monitoring of them. This leads to mismanagement, higher risk of future incidents, including life-threatening anaphylaxis, and lower quality of life.

Adults and parents of children diagnosed with food allergies in Ireland, the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Spain and Poland are asked to get familiar with this initiative and to use this tool anytime they experience a food allergic incident, even a mild one.

Access the AlleREACT tool here.

UCC Professor Jonathan Hourihane, Dr Audrey Dunn Galvin, and PhD researcher Katarzyna Pyrz lead this intervention together with the iFAAM’s project coordinator: Professor Clare Mills and a senior researcher: Professor Angela Simpson from the Allergy and Respiratory Centre of The University of Manchester’s Institute of Inflammation and Repair. Community leaders include Patient Organisations: Anaphylaxis Campaign (ACUK, UK), Anaphylaxis Ireland (AI), Deutscher Allergie- und Asthmabund e.V. (DAAB, Germany), La Prévention des Allergies; Association Française pour la Prévention des Allergies (AFPRAL, France and Belgium), Asociación Española de Personas con Alergia a Alimentos y Látex (AEPNAA, Spain) and Stowarzyszenie Pomocy Chorym na Astm? i Choroby Alergiczne w ?odzi (Poland).

“This is a massive research project which will have far reaching consequences for consumers and food producers”, says Professor Mills. “Uncertainty is a core theme in living and coping with food allergy and current risk hazard approaches perpetuate this uncertainty”, adds Dr Dunn Galvin, a medical psychologist. The reporting tool helps to reduce uncertainty around food allergic incidents by enabling patients, clinicians, researches and public authorities to get a clearer picture on how and how often reactions occur in the community and what can be done to prevent them. Katarzyna Pyrz concludes, “This research empowers patients’ advocates to run their own data collection and to take ownership for the reporting system in a long term. This added community value allows the tools and data to serve those living and coping with food allergies on a day-to-day basis”.

All involved Patient Organisations and patients’ representatives agree, “This research is a vital and much-needed step forward, it will aid better understanding and management of food allergies and we are delighted to be part of it. The tool has been developed using patients’ contributions and the outcomes of this research may have important implications for food allergic people in Europe.”