Can adults develop food allergies

Skip to content. Learn the signs and symptoms of food allergy. More than 50 million Americans have an allergy of some kind. You probably know one of those people or are one yourself. Food allergy symptoms are most common in babies and children, but they can appear at any age.

Can adults develop food allergies, or is this possible only in children? While food allergies are more common in children, adults can, and sometimes do, develop food allergies. You can become allergic to a food you've eaten without a problem for years, or a childhood allergy that disappeared can re-emerge. Certain foods are more likely to trigger allergic reactions than others, such as tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish, milk, and wheat. If you suspect you're newly allergic to a certain food, pay a visit to an allergist to get tested. A reaction you are attributing to a certain food could be caused by something else. The FDA found a big increase in the number of self-reported food allergies in adults in recent years.

Most people assume that a food allergy or intolerance is something you develop as a kid that may or may not stick with you throughout your life. But as it turns out, you can randomly develop food allergies as an adult, too. Yes, it's weird and totally disheartening—and it's also more common than you might expect.

Most food allergies start in childhood, but they can develop at any time of life. It isn't clear why, but some adults develop an allergy to a food they used to eat with no problem. Sometimes a child outgrows a food allergy only to have it reappear in adulthood. The most common foods that cause food allergy in adults are peanuts, fish, shellfish shrimp or lobster and tree nuts almonds, walnuts, pecans and cashews. If you have a food allergy, you'll need to avoid the offending food.