We’re the ‘allergy capital of the world’. But we don’t know why food allergies are so common in Australian children | Jennifer Koplin and Desalegn Markos Shifti for the Convers

Vitamin D levels, sanitation, diet and migration patterns are all thought to play a role. But there are trials under way to develop new strategies to prevent food allergies

Australia has often been called the allergy capital of the world".

An estimated one in 10 Australian children develop a food allergy in their first 12 months of life. Research has previously suggested food allergies are more common in infants in Australia than infants living in Europe, the United States or Asia.