Melbourne has become the food allergy capital of the world due to a combination of Vitamin D deficiencies, genetics and nutrition, experts say.
New research on allergy prevention was released as part of the International Congress of Immunology which has descended on Melbourne for six days.
"We call it the food allergy capital of the world," Murdoch Children's Research Institute allergist Katie Allen told AAP.
Melbourne's unenviable status is partly due to low levels of Vitamin D with Victoria so far from the equator.
"The furthest from the equator you live - and that is both in the northern and the southern hemisphere - the more likely you are to have a food allergy," Prof Allen said.
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She recommends parents feed babies peanut paste, cows' milk and wheat during the first year of life to prevent deadly food allergies later on.
"We recommend introducing solids around six months but not before four months," she said when discussing the latest research based on years of allergy tests on thousands of Australian children.
According to the institute, children are likely to grow out of egg allergies but deadly nut allergies lead to at least two preventable deaths across Victoria every year.
The research institute is seeking government funding to finish a comprehensive evaluation of the impact that Vitamin D has on immune health development.
