AUSTRALIANS are now reporting food allergies at a rate higher
than any other country, a congress of world allergy experts has
been told but scientists are at a loss to explain why children
are taking longer to outgrow them and they are rising in
prevalence and severity. An immunologist from the Netherlands,
Johan Garssen, said low immune tolerance, environmental factors,
infections, diet and air pollution were just some of the
suspected causes for the increase, but there was not enough
evidence to understand how to prevent allergies occurring or to
slow rates. ''If I could answer why this is happening, I would
win a Nobel prize,'' said Professor Garssen, who spoke at the
Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy
conference in New Zealand this week. ''The only thing we know
for sure is that allergies are a disease due to a disturbance of
the immune system but what is causing that disturbance we don't
know.'' It is estimated one in 10 Australian children suffer
from a food allergy, with many of th