Allergic diseases affect millions of children and adolescents worldwide. In this Review, we focus on allergies to food and airborne allergens and provide examples of prevalence trends during a time when climate change is of increasing concern. Profound environmental changes have affected natural systems in terms of biodiversity loss, air pollution, and climate. We discuss the potential links between these changes and allergic diseases in children, and the clinical implications. Several exposures of relevance for allergic disease also correlate with epigenetic changes such as DNA methylation. We propose that epigenetics could be a promising tool by which exposures and hazards related to a changing environment can be captured. Epigenetics might also provide promising biomarkers and help to elucidate the mechanisms related to allergic disease initiation and progress.

过敏性疾病影响着全世界数百万儿童和青少年。在这篇评论中，我们关注对食物和空气传播的过敏原过敏，并提供气候变化日益受到关注的流行趋势的例子。深刻的环境变化在生物多样性丧失、空气污染和气候方面影响了自然系统。我们讨论了这些变化与儿童过敏性疾病之间的潜在联系，以及临床意义。一些与过敏性疾病相关的暴露也与表观遗传变化有关，例如 DNA 甲基化。我们建议表观遗传学可能是一种很有前途的工具，通过它可以捕获与不断变化的环境相关的暴露和危害。