Comparison of Food Compound Intake Between Food-Allergic Individuals and the General Population

Background: Individuals with food allergies typically need to avoid specific allergens, leading to distinct dietary choices. Their food product intake may therefore vary from that of the general population, potentially leading to differences in their intake of nutrients and other food compounds. Methods: We compared food compound and nutrient group intakes between the general Dutch adult population (n = 415) and food allergic Dutch adult patients with either milk and/or egg allergies (n = 16), peanut and/or tree nut allergies (n = 35) or a combination of milk/egg and peanut/tree nut allergies (n = 22). We translated 24-hour dietary recall data into food compound intake values. We used a mixed effects ANOVA model and considered compound intakes statistically significantly different at FDR-corrected p < 0.05. Additionally, compounds with uncorrected p < 0.01 were explored for potential relevance. Results: A total of 489 compounds or nutrient groups were included in the statistical analysis. Milk/egg and mixed allergic patients had significantly lower intakes of beta-lactose, butyric acid, caproic acid, caprylic acid, capric acid, lauric acid, myristic acid, myristoleic acid, conjugated linoleic acid, and remainder saturated fatty acids (p < 0.05, FDR corrected), with mean intake factors of 1.6-3.2 and 1.3-2.9 lower, respectively, than the general population. In addition, 36 other compounds showed intake differences with a p < 0.01 without FDR correction. There were no statistically significant differences between the peanut/tree nut allergy group and the general population. Conclusions: Our study shows significantly lower intakes of 10 mainly dairy-derived compounds by the milk/egg and mixed-allergic patients, presenting the potential for long-term health consequences and the need for supplementation a relevant consideration, warranting further research.