You will be surprised to know how certain everyday foods can trigger a reaction in the body, ranging from a mild irritation to a more serious one requiring immediate medical attention, and that quite a large number of people suffer from food allergy. This generally happens when a certain component in the food is perceived to be harmful by your immune system, which then sets off an alarm within your body.
Symptoms of a Food Allergy
• Swelling: The most common reaction is swelling of the lips, or other parts of your face including eyelids, cheeks and tongue.
• Itching: You must also watch out for itching and rashes on the hands, back or anywhere on the skin, like swelling, parts of the face are commonly affected.
• Other Symptoms: These consist of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cramps and even a runny or clogged nose.
• Anaphylaxis: Sometimes the reactions can be much more severe; these might happen directly or may follow the above symptoms. Rapidly falling blood pressure may result in feeling light-headed or dizzy, and you might lose consciousness. This particular symptom, if not treated promptly can become life threatening.
Common Allergy-Causing Foods
• Nuts: Peanuts are one of the most common causes of food allergy, and in cases might be severe. Other nuts are walnuts, pecan and tree nuts.
• Milk: Allergy to milk is found mostly in children, and in large number of cases the allergy wears off as they grow. Cow, goat, sheep milk can all cause such allergies because the proteins causing the allergies are found in all these kinds of milk.
• Sea Food: Fish, shellfish, crayfish, shrimp, oysters and lobster are the most common kinds of seafood that can cause an allergic reaction.
• Grains, Cereals, Etc.: Wheat, rice, corn, barley, oats and rye, in addition to eggs, along with sesame and linseed also cause allergies.
Testing for Food Allergy
• Skin Prick and Blood Test: This test involves making a tiny prick on the skin and then placing the allergen (any substance causing the allergy) on the skin, any reaction like swelling or redness can confirm the allergy. Blood tests are also done to verify allergies. However both these tests detect allergies only if caused by the Immunoglobulin E (IgE) type of antibody.
• Food Challenge: You will be given an allergy causing food in the form of capsules and kept under observation for any reaction. While this test can also detect other antibodies, they have to be administered by professionals in a hospital or clinic, to contain any possible adverse reaction.
Prevention and Cure
• You can effectively avoid food allergy by preparing an elimination diet, which will contain a list of foods that causes reaction and then simply staying away from them.
• Antihistamines like Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) or steroids like Corticosteroid may also be given to treat allergies. Epinephrine, which helps to pull up the blood pressure, can be given in case of a severe reaction like anaphylaxis.
The type of foods and the severity of the reaction differ greatly from person to person, but it is something that you should not allow to go untreated.
