Prevalence of food allergies in students of a medicine course: a prospective observational cross-sectional cohort study

Abstract

Food allergy can be defined as an adverse reaction to a food antigen mediated by fundamentally immunological mechanisms. It is a nutritional problem that has grown in recent decades, probably due to the greater exposure of the population to a greater number of available food allergens. It is becoming a worldwide health problem, associated with a significant negative impact on quality of life. Therefore, the assessment of the prevalence of food allergies in medical students in UNIFIPA is to identify the foods with the highest incidence of allergy and their clinical manifestations.