Children’s food allergies have been on the rise for quite some time, with no clear explanation as to why. Some experts blame GMOs, others the timing of introducing foods to kids or the frequency with which we consume certain staples—such as wheat, dairy, soy, and corn. Evidence shows that most kids acquire food allergies within their first couple years of life, which may explain why researchers recently found that kids who started multivitamin supplements earlier (in this case, before age 4) showed a 39 percent reduction in food allergy risk, while older children saw little or no change to allergy risk when taking the same multivitamins. Take away? Multivitamins can in fact help reduce allergy risk, but only if they’re started early.