Photo Credit: Santiago Nicolau

A study published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology has found a link between pesticide exposure and food allergies. Food allergies are on the rise and currently affect one in 13 children in the U.S.  To examine potential causes of this phenomenon researchers at Montefiore Medical Center looked at whether contact with pesticides such as dichlorophenols (DCPs) was associated with the increasing prevalence of food allergies.  They compared levels of the chemicals in urine to antibodies to foods in the blood and found that people with the highest levels of the chemicals were nearly twice as likely to show sensitivity to at least one food compared to those with the lowest levels of those chemicals. Their results suggest that people exposed to higher levels of these pesticides may be more likely to develop food allergies.