Given that the prevalence of pediatric IgE-mediated food allergies (FA) has followed a substantive increase in recent decades, nowadays, a research challenge is to establish whether the weaning strategy can have a role in FA prevention. In recent decades, several studies have demonstrated that delayed exposure to allergenic foods did not reduce the risk of FA, leading to the publication of recent guidelines which recommend against delaying the introduction of solid foods after 4–6 months of age, both in high- and low-risk infants, in order to prevent food allergy. In the present review, focusing on cow’s milk protein, hen’s eggs, peanuts, soy, wheat and fish, we describe the current scientific evidence on the relationship between timing of these foods’ introduction in infants’ diet and allergy development.

Summary: The diagnosis of asthma is currently based on clinical history, physical examination and lung function, and to date, there are no accurate objective tests either to confirm the diagnosis or to discriminate between different types of asthma. This consensus exercise reviews the state of the art in asthma diagnosis to identify opportunities for future investment based on the likelihood of their successful development, potential for widespread adoption and their perceived impact on asthma patients. Using a two‐stage e‐Delphi process and a summarizing workshop, a group of European asthma experts including health professionals, researchers, people with asthma and industry representatives ranked the potential impact of research investment in each technique or tool for asthma diagnosis and monitoring. After a systematic review of the literature, 21 statements were extracted and were subject of the two‐stage Delphi process. Eleven statements were scored 3 or more and were further discussed and ranked in a face‐to‐face workshop. The three most important diagnostic/predictive tools ranked were as follows: “New biological markers of asthma (eg genomics, proteomics and metabolomics) as a tool for diagnosis and/or monitoring,” “Prediction of future asthma in preschool children with reasonable accuracy” and “Tools to measure volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath.”

Recently, the “epithelial barrier hypothesis” has been proposed as a key factor in the development of allergic diseases, such as food allergies. Harmful environmental factors can damage epithelial barriers, with detrimental effects on the host immune response and on the local microbial equilibrium, resulting in chronic mucosal inflammation that perpetuates the dysfunction of the epithelial barrier. The increased epithelial permeability allows allergens to access the submucosae, leading to an imbalance between type 1 T-helper (Th1) and type 2 T-helper (Th2) inflammation, with a predominant Th2 response that is the key factor in food allergy development. In this article on the state of the art, we review scientific evidence on the “epithelial barrier hypothesis”, with a focus on food allergies. We describe how loss of integrity of the skin and intestinal epithelial barrier and modifications in gut microbiota composition can contribute to local inflammatory changes and immunological unbalance that can lead to the development of food allergies.