Allergies are a very common disease in Taiwan and around the world, and food allergies account for a very high proportion of allergies. In the minds of the public, it seems that as long as they do not cause severe allergic reactions (such as asthma, anaphylaxis, etc.), they are often ignored. However, the latest research results have sounded the alarm for allergy awareness. Let me explain in detail below:
This referencepaperTo be published in 2024 in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, a leading journal in the field of allergy and immunology, the study aims to understand the relationship between food allergies and the risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
The research team collected detailed information from participants in the 2005-2006 National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) and the 2000-2002 Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). The subjects were measured for allergy-related IgE antibody concentrations, which varied slightly in different studies: NHANES measured milk, eggs, peanuts, shrimp, and a variety of aeroallergens, while MESA measured milk, peanuts, alpha-galactoside oligosaccharides (a sugar molecule found in most mammals but not in humans), dust mites, and timothy grass. The cutoff for allergy detection was mainly 0.35 kU.A/L, this cut-off concentration belongs to the lightest Level I in the common 6-level classification method. In 2019, the research team tracked the subjects and found that 229 of the 4,414 subjects included in the NHANES study died of cardiovascular disease, and 56 of the 960 subjects included in the MESA study died of cardiovascular disease.
After correcting the interference factor analysis, a surprising result emerged! In the NHANES study, people who were allergic to at least one food had an approximately 70% increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease (HR: 1.6~1.7). Further analysis found that people who were allergic to milk, in particular, had a 2-fold increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease (HR: 2.0~2.1)! Similar analysis results also appeared in the MESA study (the risk of death from cardiovascular disease for those who are allergic to milk is as high as 3.8 times! HR: 3.5~3.8).
In addition, there are several key findings in the advanced analysis:
1. There is a dose effect between the total amount of IgE antibodies and the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. For every increase of 1 in the log10 value of the total amount of antibodies, the risk of death from vascular disease will increase by 10~30% (HR: 1.1~1.3).
2. If the subjects were divided into two groups based on whether they had stable consumption of food allergens, for consumers with stable consumption, the risk of death from cardiovascular disease was significantly increased in the group with allergies to milk (HR: 2.3), peanuts (HR: 2.5), and shrimp (HR: 3.7).
The analysis results of this study show that food allergy is no longer just an issue that can be ignored, and its significant correlation with an increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease does exist. The author believes that if the perspective of chronic inflammation in the body is taken into account, the results mentioned in this paper are very reasonable. As the saying goes, a little knowledge can lead to a big picture, and prevention is better than cure. If we want to achieve true preventive medicine, then early adjustments and treatments for early-stage diseases such as food allergies will achieve better preventive effects on future health status.
〈The author is former Attending Physician in National Taiwan University Hospital, and Master of Science from National Taiwan University〉