How to Understand Food Allergies20 Sep
Types of food allergies
The various types of food allergies include peanut, shellfish, eggs, milk, soy, rice, MSG, sulfite, strawberries, nuts, and more. One person may be allergic or have some type of reaction to just one ingredient found in an item, such as if a person is allergic to gluten this can be found in all kinds of different products besides wheat bread. Many types of gravy and other prepared foods also contain gluten.
Symptoms of food allergies
The symptoms of food allergies can be mild to severe with the majority of cases including an itching in the mouth, difficulty swallowing, difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, hives, eczema, asthma, lightheadedness, weakness, and drop in blood pressure.
Causes of food allergies
Food allergies are caused by the body’s immune system overreacting. This may sound very strange, but the immune system will overreact to substances in foods you have eaten. When this occurs, it starts the entire allergic reaction symptoms.
In the majority of cases, food allergies are found in young children more often than adults or the allergies have been a part of the adult’s life since childhood. The main reason that occurs is believed to be in part that the immune system and the digestive system have not developed.
The major food allergies seen in children include Eggs, milk, peanuts, wheat, soy, and fish. In most cases, the allergies will be outgrown by the time child reaches between the ages of three and five except for fish and peanuts.
With teenagers and adults, the most common food allergies are peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish.
The exact cause of food allergies is not apparent, however, most individuals that have a food allergy have an inherited tendency to develop allergic conditions. These individuals are known as atopic which often have other health problems such as asthma, various allergies besides food and atopic dermatitis.
A very strange factor with food allergies is that the more common the food is in an area the more apt individuals in the area develop an allergy to the food such as rice allergies are high in Japan whereas codfish allergies are very high Scandinavia.
Celiac disease is an illness caused by an allergy to gluten found in wheat, oats, barley, and rye. This ingredient is often found in many prepared foods as well.
Treatment of Food Allergies
Treatments for food allergies can include eliminating allergens, strengthening the person nutritionally, and modifying the person’s immune response. There is no pill that will magically make your food allergies go away. You are going to have to learn how to manage your life with these food allergies, which in most cases learning to eat a special diet. In most cases, the food or foods that cause the allergic reaction is left out of the diet. It can be pretty easy to leave some foods out of your diet such as milk or peanuts, however, for individuals with a gluten allergy more precautions must be made as several items may have gluten. If a product lists “modified corn starch”, this item may have wheat whereas “corn starch” would not have gluten.
One thing that many people may not realize is that if a person is allergic to a certain food; they can also have allergic reactions due to cross contamination. This means if you have a family member that is allergic to peanuts and you make a peanut butter, jelly sandwich for one family member, and then use the same knife to make a plain jelly sandwich for the person allergic to peanuts, you may see an allergic reaction. The reason being is the knife touched peanut butter and then touched the food they eat.
The same goes for a person with Celiac Disease. You can butter a piece of toast and then place the knife back in the butter dish without contaminating the butter with gluten.
Prevention of Food Allergies
There is no answer at this time how to prevent food allergies but there are several studies at this time one that discusses the point parents introduce solid food to their babies. American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breast-feeding of infants for at least the first 6 months of life. After this time, slowly introducing solid foods while continuing breastfeeding until at least twelve months of age, may aid in reducing food allergies.
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