Food Allergies: From Avoidance to Prevention

Dr. HO Hok Kung, Marco

Honorary Consultant in Allergy

Specialist in Paediatric Immunology, Allergy and Infectious Diseases

After practicing medicine for decades, food allergies have always urged me to rethink and change my ways.

Many people's initial reaction to food allergies is simply “avoid those foods!” They hunt suspicious foods like detectives, then eliminate them, thinking that by avoiding any doubtful foods, they can avoid the problems caused by food allergies and the possibility of severe allergic reactions or shock.

More than twenty years ago, while working at the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Medicine as a teacher, a researcher and a practitioner, I encountered many children and adolescents with food allergies. At that time, my strategy was to always put safety first. I remember setting up an allergy and immunology clinic at Queen Mary Hospital. When I was testing food allergies for a child of my fellow doctor, it took place right outside the emergency room at Queen Mary Hospital, just in case of severe allergic reactions. I would then make recommendations for completely or moderately avoiding allergenic foods.

Many children may have never had the chance to try common foods like eggs, milk, or peanuts due to their allergies. It can feel like they are battling a fierce opponent. By all means, it is extremely important for those with food allergies to learn how to manage them and to always be cautious about what they eat. By paying attention to food labels, creating an emergency plan, and having the right medications on hand, they can be prepared to handle allergic reactions confidently.

Yet, over the years, my team and I have been pondering and conducting a variety of studies, with the goal of understanding the causes of food allergies and exploring whether allergic symptoms might go away as children get older. We have also been investigating ways to cure or prevent food allergies. Since Professor LEE Tak Hong came back to Hong Kong from the United Kingdom and established the first allergy centre in Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital in 2012, the belief that food allergies can be treated has been gaining momentum. We have successfully treated peanut allergy patients of different ages with oral desensitization, showing that food allergies can be effectively and safely managed. Since 2018, we have been promoting the idea of preventing food allergies by introducing high allergen foods like eggs, milk, soy, wheat, fish, shellfish, and nuts to infants and young children. The belief is that the more variety of foods introduced before the age of one, the better it is for building tolerance to different foods in young children.

Today, I love to encourage patients and parents by saying, “Food allergies? There’s a way. Let’s eat!”