American Dish Podcast: Ilana Golant on the Race to Understand America's Growing Food Allergy Epidemic

American Dish Podcast: Ilana Golant on the Race to Understand America's Growing Food Allergy Epidemic

July 8, 2026 - FAF Founder and CEO Ilana Golant joined journalist Helena Bottemiller Evich on her podcast American Dish to discuss the scale of food allergies in the U.S. and the persistent gap between how common the condition is and how little research funding it receives. Ilana explains why food allergies, which affect an estimated 10% of Americans, are still funded like a rare disease. She also shares FAF's multifaceted approach to closing that gap, which ranges from advocating for greater federal investment to directly funding microbiome research, drug repurposing trials, and AI-powered diagnostic tools. The conversation also explores why so many food allergy clinical trials are now running in Australia rather than the U.S., the rise of adult-onset allergies, and why food allergy may be a signal for broader gut and immune health.