What Causes Allergies?

According to the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America, about 20 percent of Americans have allergies, and 8 percent of children under 6 have allergies.

The foundation states that, "Like baldness, height and eye color, the capacity to become allergic is an inherited characteristic" (2005).

But just because you have a genetic predisposition to develop allergies to a substance, this does not mean that you automatically will.

The foundation states that exposure to the allergen also plays a role in whether or not you develop an allergy.

Because I have allergies, I feel bad that my son also has them. It makes me wonder, what went wrong with my genes? Will Ben battle allergies all his life, or will he outgrow them? Is there anything that I could have done to prevent this?

Some evidence suggests that breastfeeding can help prevent allergies, and Ben was mostly breastfed, but not exclusively. If I had not given him an formula at all, could I have prevented this?

Do you have allergies? Did your parents have allergies? What do you do to manage them?