ReviewClinical reviews in allergy & immunology2014
Food allergy in Africa: myth or reality?
Review in Clinical reviews in allergy & immunology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Nutrition and Gut Microbiome in the Prevention of Food Allergy.Nutrients · 2025Pooled it
- Enquiring About Tolerance (EAT) study: Feasibility of an early allergenic food introduction regimen.The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology · 2016Trial
- Soil-Transmitted Helminths and the Intricacies of Immunoregulation: Evidence From Amazonian Ecuador for the Importance of Considering Species-Specific Effects Within the Old Friends Hypothesis.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2025Article
- Epidemiology and the Growing Epidemic of Food Allergy in Children and Adults Across the Globe.Current allergy and asthma reports · 2024Review
- Article
- Prevalence of self-reported food allergy in Tunisia: General trends and probabilistic modeling.The World Allergy Organization journal · 2023Article
- Allergen sensitization and polysensitization pattern of adults and children in an urban Sub-Saharan African setting (Libreville, Gabon).The journal of allergy and clinical immunology. Global · 2023Article
- Adverse reactions to food: Navigating the maze in primary health care.South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care · 2022Article
- Mapping Allergic Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa.Frontiers in allergy · 2022Review
- Epidemiology and Burden of Food Allergy.Current allergy and asthma reports · 2020Review
- Challenges of managing food allergy in the developing world.The World Allergy Organization journal · 2019Review
- Statistical Approaches in the Studies Assessing Associations between Human Milk Immune Composition and Allergic Diseases: A Scoping Review.Nutrients · 2019Article
- Review
- Influence of Parasitic Worm Infections on Allergy Diagnosis in Sub-Saharan Africa.Current allergy and asthma reports · 2017Review
- Human Milk and Allergic Diseases: An Unsolved Puzzle.Nutrients · 2017Review
- "If we are waiting for the numbers alone, we will miss the point": a qualitative study of the perceived rise of food allergy and associated risk factors in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana.Global health research and policy · 2017Article
- Anaphylaxis Complicated by Acute Respiratory Distress and Fatal Outcome in A Nigerian Family.Journal of clinical and diagnostic research : JCDR · 2017Article
- Histamine (Scombroid) Fish Poisoning: a Comprehensive Review.Clinical reviews in allergy & immunology · 2016Review
- The challenge of treating orphan disease.Clinical reviews in allergy & immunology · 2014Article
- The changing geoepidemiology of food allergies.Clinical reviews in allergy & immunology · 2014Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Food allergy has been traditionally perceived as being rare in Africa. However, the prevalence of other allergic manifestations such as asthma and atopic dermatitis continue to rise in the higher-income African countries. Since the food allergy epidemic in westernized countries has lagged behind that of allergic respiratory conditions, we hypothesize that food allergy is increasing in Africa. This article systematically reviews the evidence for food allergy in Africa, obtained through searching databases including PubMed, Medline, MD Consult, and scholarly Google. Articles are divided into categories based on strength of methodological diagnosis of food allergy. Information was found for 11 African countries: Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe. Most studies reflect sensitization to food or self-reported symptoms. However, a few studies had more stringent diagnostic testing that is convincing for food allergy, mostly conducted in South Africa. Apart from the foods that commonly cause allergy in westernized countries, other regionally significant or novel food allergens may include pineapple (Ghana), okra (Nigeria), and mopane worm (Botswana). Food allergy is definitely an emerging disease in Africa and resources need to be diverted to study, diagnose, treat, and prevent this important disease.
Indexed as
Identifiers
23179518What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.