Description

Learn about what role genetics play in the appearance and severity of allergies.

Transcript

Ana: Hi! My name is Ana from Denver, Colorado. I want to know, if my mother has allergies, can allergies be inherited. David Lang: Ana, if your mother has allergy, you are at increased risk compared with the general non-allergic population for having allergy yourself. So in other words, if you have one parent who is allergic, you are at increased risk; if you have two parents who are allergic, you are at even more risk. But based on the fact that the prevalence of allergy is increasing in the population, what that implies is that people whose parents don't have allergy are also becoming allergic. So it doesn't mean that if either of your parents don't have allergy that you are at no risk, but again, if one or two of your parents have allergy, you are at elevated risk.