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World J Clin Pediatr. May 9, 2022; 11(3): 253-269
Published online May 9, 2022. doi: 10.5409/wjcp.v11.i3.253
Food allergy in children—the current status and the way forward
Ahmed Elghoudi, Hassib Narchi
Ahmed Elghoudi, Paediatric Department, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi NA, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Ahmed Elghoudi, Hassib Narchi, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Alain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Author contributions: Elghoudi A and Narchi H wrote the paper, revised it, and approved the final submitted version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that the review article was written in the absence of any financial conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ahmed Elghoudi, FRCP, MSc, Doctor, Paediatric Department, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Al Karama Street, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. ahmed.elghoudi1@gmail.com
Received: April 6, 2021
Peer-review started: April 6, 2021
First decision: July 6, 2021
Revised: July 16, 2021
Accepted: March 16, 2022
Article in press: March 16, 2022
Published online: May 9, 2022
Processing time: 395 Days and 19.5 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Food allergy in children is a potentially serious condition with an increasing prevalence. Current diagnostic tests are useful when interpreted in the context of the clinical history. The oral food challenge is the current gold standard for making the diagnosis, but its use is limited. New diagnostic methods have recently emerged. Currently, there is no definite treatment to induce life-long natural tolerance and cure for this condition, and available treatments only aim to decrease the occurrence of anaphylaxis. New evidence supports the early introduction of the allergenic food to infants to decrease the incidence of food allergy.