• The prevalence of the most important food allergies in different part of Iran
  • Fardis Teifoori,1,* Mehdi Dehghani Kazemi,2
    1. Health Pioneers Clinical Laboratory
    2. University of Zabol


  • Introduction: The prevalence of allergic diseases has been on the rise during the last decades. According to epidemiological documents, high concentration of exposure to food allergen has resulted in several adverse problems including respiratory diseases, allergic reaction and infections. The purpose of this study is to provide an extensive review of the prevalence of the most common food allergens and sensitivity of people to them in different parts, which is crucial for the prevention and treatment of allergic diseases.
  • Methods: All published papers regarding food allergy in Iran were gathered from different databases and a standard review was written based on available data.
  • Results: This review shows an increase in the percentage of allergy to milk, egg, soy, wheat, peanut, tree nuts, shellfish, and fish during the last decades. Nuts especially almond, walnut, peanut, and hazelnut were common food allergens in several studies in different parts of Iran. Food allergy varies from city to city of Iran depending on the variation in lifestyles, nutritional habits, ethnic diversities, geography, and other environmental conditions. For example allergy to grapes and melon is prevalent in Mashhad while the most common fruit allergies in Tabriz are banana and tomato, and, allergenic reactions in Bushehr are caused by shrimps. This is due to the differences in nourishment, hence the amount of exposure to allergenic foods in various parts of Iran. However, it seems that wheat, egg, and milk are the most allergenic food among Iranian people since these foods are very common among Iranian diets all over the country.
  • Conclusion: In conclusion, the geographical variations in the prevalence of food allergies are likely due to the amount of exposure to different allergenic foods as well as environmental factors. Therefore identifying allergenic foods in each area is necessary not only for warning patients to avoid them but also for easier diagnosing, prevention and management of food allergic progress, the possibility of performing immunotherapy as well as decreasing the cost and morbidity of therapeutic actions for allergic patients.
  • Keywords: food allergy, epidemiology, prevalence, risk factors, allergic disease