Environment plays bigger role than genetics in food allergic disease

Environment has a much stronger role than genetics in eosinophilic esophagitis, a severe, often painful food allergy that renders children unable to eat a wide variety of foods, researchers have found. Eosinophils are normal cellular components of the blood, but when the body produces too many eosinophils they can cause a variety of eosinophilic disorders. These are disorders involving chronic inflammation and resulting tissue damage, often in the gastrointestinal system.