Wellington, May 18 NZPA - A new research network hopes to produce more effective treatment options for food allergy sufferers.

Clinicians, public health researchers, and scientists specialising in food allergy research met at the Malaghan Institute in Wellington last month to establish the network.

"The goal of this workshop was to identify areas of research collaboration and potential networking opportunities between individuals and research groups working within the food allergy area," institute allergy research scientist Elizabeth Forbes said.

Dr Forbes said food allergy was proving to be a highly topical issue in international medical research and New Zealand had to remain on top of the issue as well.

"We know that simply avoiding the foods that cause the problems is not effective and that research is needed to reduce the limitations and suffering food allergies impose on the people who have them," she said.

"Furthermore, we need more New Zealand-specific data on the impact of food allergy in New Zealand so that we can provide scientific advice to our food industry."

Wellington School of Medicine, Massey University, Nutricia, Fonterra, AgResearch and the Dairy Goat Co-operative (NZ) Ltd are collaborating with the Malaghan Institute on the project.

It is estimated that one in three New Zealanders will be affected by allergy at some stage in their lives . Symptoms rage from uncomfortable to life-threatening.

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