Are allergies genetic?

Although allergies do have a genetic component, they are also largely influenced by a baby's environment and experiences in early life. (Image credit: filadendron via Getty Images) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Join the club Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards. Explore An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Over 100 million people , and more than 30% of adults, suffer from some type of allergy in the United States, and that number is on the rise . But where are these allergies coming from? Do we inherit them, or do they result from environmental factors? The answer involves a little of both, said Dr. Derek Chu , an allergy specialist at McMaster University in Ontario. Allergies occur when the immune system mistakes a harmless substance, such as pollen or a certain type of food, for a dangerous substance and attempts to get it out of the body. Once the body reacts this way toward an allergen, it will repeat the allergic response for every new exposure, unless there is a successful intervention. "The body goes awry and is trained to do the wrong thing," Chu told Live Science. SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER (Image credit: Marilyn Perkins / Future) Sign up for our weekly Life's Little Mysteries newsletter to get the latest mysteries before they appear online. According to Leah Kottyan , an immunologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, there are several main types of allergies. They include allergic dermatitis, which manifests through skin conditions such as rashes and hives; allergic asthma, which involves airway inflammation and the overproduction of mucus; allergic rhinitis, which results in sneezing and a stuffy nose; and food allergies, which can trigger a whole-body immune response. All of these responses could be driven by the same allergen, Kottyan noted. Moreover, people who have one type of allergic response are more likely to have others and more likely to be allergic to more than one thing. According to Kottyan, there is almost certainly a genetic component to the development of allergies. Independent studies comparing the prevalence of allergies in identical and fraternal twins found that the identical twins were far more likely to exhibit similar allergies than the fraternal twins, indicating that their genetic makeup played a role. In one study , the identical twins had an average of 95% similarity between four different types of allergies, whereas fraternal twins had an