Food Allergies
Food allergies are dietary problems. They occur when your body is unable to process certain foods. Roughly 2% of adults and between 2% - 8% of children are allergic to certain foods. A food allergy can go unnoticed or undiagnosed for a long time. This can have lethal results if the proper steps are not taken.
Causes
Food allergies occur when a person's antibodies, which are organisms that usually protect the body from infection, mistakenly identify a food as a dangerous substance. That is, they identify it as an enemy. They then cause the body to reject the food in the same way that it does other invasive substances, like pollen.
Certain food allergies are particularly dangerous. For example, tree nuts and peanuts can trigger anaphylaxis in those allergic to them, causing suffers to suffocate due to swollen tissue and low blood pressure. Shellfish allergies can have a similar effect.
Once the antibodies have mistaken a particular food as dangerous, they cause the body to release a specialised type of immune system cell called mast cells. The mast cells then release chemicals into the bloodstream. One of these chemicals, known as histamine, causes the body to experience various allergic reactions.
Common food allergies
The most common food allergies amongst adults and older children are to:
- Peanuts/tree nuts
- Milk
- Wheat
- Eggs
- Shellfish (crab, lobster or snails)
- Soy
Symptoms
Depending on the allergy, symptoms usually occur within two hours of eating, though they may take longer in rare cases. The most common symptoms of food allergies are:
- Light-headedness
- Abdominal cramps
- Nausea/vomiting
- Swelling in the lips, eyelids, face or tongue
- Diarrhoea
- Congestion and/or a runny nose
Treatment
The best way of dealing with a food allergy is to remove the offending food from the diet completely. It would also be wise to consult your doctor or an allergy specialist. When buying food, be sure to read the labels of everything. Most labels include a list of allergens along with warnings stating whether the product was manufactured in a factory that process nuts and soy. Avoid any contact with foods to which you are allergic.
Prevention
It is commonly believed that breastfeeding is a means to prevent the development of food allergies in children. Once an allergy has developed however, avoidance is the only sure option of ensuring that one is not exposed to offending foods.
Allergy or intolerance?
It should be made clear that there is a difference between food allergy and food intolerance. While allergies tend to occur as a result of a person's immune system acting in an unexpected way, food intolerances occur as a result of contaminants being absorbed into the digestive system or if a person lacks a certain enzyme to process a particular food.
For example, people who are lactose intolerant are unable to process dairy because their digestive systems are unable to produce the lactase enzyme. Examples of contaminants that may cause intolerances are chemical substances like preservatives, colourants and tartrazine. Intolerance to these chemicals can cause a person to experience symptoms very similar to those who suffer from true food allergies.
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