One in 10 adults and one in 13 children have food allergies, enough for the Food Allergy Research & Education association to declare an epidemic.

Among the most common and proliferating allergies are reactions to peanuts. The allergy association says data from insurance claims found the annual incidence of peanut allergy in 1-year-olds tripled between 2001 and 2017, and reactions are also increasing in adults.

As common as this potentially life-threatening allergy is, little is known what bodily mechanisms and food interactions are responsible for the allergic reactions, says Jing-Ke Weng, a Northeastern University expert in plant chemistry.

Weng and collaborator Dr. Seth Rakoff-Nahoum at Boston Children’s Hospital are looking to unlock this mystery with the help of a recently awarded Pew Innovation Fund grant they say could lay the foundation for therapies to fight food allergies.

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Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University