8 September 2022
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
The European Academy of Allergy & Clinical Immunology Allergy School takes place in Cork for the first time this month
The European Academy of Allergy & Clinical Immunology (EAACI) Allergy School takes place in Cork for the first time on 9th – 11th September
2022 and is focused on ‘Putting nutrition at the forefront of prevention and treatment of allergies and asthma’. This is a global event where health care professionals and scientists, including Pediatricians, Allergists, Immunologists, GPs, Nurses and Dieticians, from 30 different countries are coming to Cork to engage on the latest advances in nutrition and allergy care, and to decide on the best way forward to counter the dramatic increase in allergies and asthma worldwide.
More than 30% of children born today will develop an allergy, while hundreds of millions of people globally suffer from asthma. This conference is chaired by APC Microbiome Ireland (APC) SFI Research Centre PI Liam O’Mahony who is a Professor of Immunology at the Dept. of Medicine and School of Microbiology, University College Cork (UCC), and is co-chaired by Dr Nonhlanhla Lunjani also from APC at UCC, and Professor Carina Venter, University of Colorado, USA.
Specific session topics covered at this year’s Allergy School include ‘Allergy: Stopping a global epidemic’, ‘The future of nutrition in the clinic’ and ‘Allergy diet facts, fads and fiction’. Specialist experts from all over the world will give presentations at the Allergy School and these include several faculty from APC and UCC including APC Director Prof Paul Ross, Prof Liam O’Mahony, Dr. Nonhlanhla Lunjani, Prof Marcus Claesson, Prof Jens Walter, Prof Subrata Ghosh and from Teagasc, Dr John Leech.
Prof-Liam-OMahony
Prof Liam O’Mahony says “We have known for some time that nutritional factors play a role in immune system effectiveness and that tailored dietary interventions are routinely prescribed for patients in critical care settings and in those with nutritional deficiencies. However, this approach is yet to be sufficiently embraced in other areas to bolster immune health and to prevent or treat specific immune-mediated diseases.
“While there has been a recent explosion of interest in understanding how dietary habits impact chronic immune-mediated disorders and responses to infections, the mounting research still needs to be integrated into evidence-based practice recommendations and guidelines. This “complicated tango” between nutrients, microbiome, epithelial barriers, metabolism, and the immune system is key to our understanding of the origins of chronic immune-mediated diseases, such as allergies, and appropriately targeted dietary modifications will be crucial for future disease prevention and for disease treatment.”
The EAACI Allergy School on Nutrition promises to be a landmark event where invaluable practical skills and knowledge on cutting-edge scientific advances will be exchanged.
It’s expected that this conference will lead to improvements in allergy prevention and management, and in particular, will support the development of personalised patient care innovations that include nutrition and the immune system.
For more information visit https://eaaci.org/allergy-schools/allergy-school-on-nutrition