Your immune system’s reactivity to foreign chemicals is known as an allergy. Your body interprets an allergen as dangerous and responds by trying to eliminate it when you touch, breathe, or consume it. Minor responses including sneezing, sniffling, and itching may result with this. However, allergic reactions can occasionally result in anaphylaxis, which is a life-threatening swelling of the airways and low blood pressure. Almost anything can trigger an allergy, including food, medicines, pollen, and animals. Some people’s allergies are just bothersome. Others must entirely change their lives in order to prevent reactions.
What triggers allergic reactions?
Allergies occur when your immune system misinterprets foreign proteins found in food, medicine, pollen, pet dander, and other materials as dangerous (as if they were germs or viruses). Mechanisms designed to protect you and remove the allergen from your body are activated when you inhale, eat, or touch something you are allergic to. Your symptoms, which can occasionally be fatal, are brought on by this.
Before you react to a chemical, you usually need to be exposed to it more than once. Your body produces antibodies against it the first time you are exposed because it perceives it as alien. Antibodies are activated when you are exposed to the same material again. Your symptoms are brought on by your immune system being alerted to attack.
Allergies are more likely to occur if you have:
- An allergic biological parent
- Disorders such as eczema (atopy) or asthma
What distinguishes food allergies from food intolerance?
A food allergy is not the same as food intolerance or food sensitivity.
A dietary intolerance:
- Impacts the digestive tract.
- Occurs when some foods are difficult for your digestive system to process.
- Causes non-life-threatening symptoms like an unsettled stomach.
- Causes symptoms as the food passes through the digestive tract a few hours after eating.
- If you consume a modest quantity of a food, it might not produce any symptoms.
An allergy to a food:
- The immune system is impacted.
- Occurs when a protein or other food element is misinterpreted by your immune system as a danger. To combat the threat, your immune system releases immunoglobulin E (IgE), which is a protein that is an antibody.
- Triggers an allergic reaction, resulting in symptoms like swelling, hives, wheezing, and shortness of breath.
- Causes symptoms to appear minutes after ingesting even a tiny quantity of a meal that triggers allergies.
- May result in anaphylaxis, a serious and perhaps fatal reaction. If epinephrine is not administered, this reaction may be lethal.
Food allergy symptoms
Mild to moderate food allergies manifest as the following symptoms:
- Swelling of the eyes, face, and lips
- Welts or hives
- Mouth tingling
- Vomiting and stomach pain are symptoms of insect allergy anaphylaxis.
- Anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction) symptoms include:
- Breathing that is noisy or uncomfortable
- Tongue enlargement
- Throat stiffness or swelling
- Wheezing or a chronic cough
- Trouble speaking or a raspy voice
- Ongoing lightheadedness or collapse
- Young children are floppy and pallid.
Food allergies’ effects on certain body areas
An allergic reaction to food can impact different parts of the body, such as:
- Oedema of the eyes, lips, and face
- Tongue enlargement
- Throat oedema or constriction
- Vomiting and stomachaches are symptoms of an insect allergy anaphylaxis.
- Skin rashes, including urticaria (hives)
- Lung conditions: asthma, coughing, and wheezing (more common in children than adults).
How are Allergies Treated?
The best way to deal with allergies is to stay away from the items you’re allergic to. This is particularly true if anaphylaxis is a possible consequence of your allergies. However, avoiding some common allergens might be challenging. Your doctor may advise you to have particular treatments on a regular basis or to take certain medications every day. These can lessen the likelihood of a reaction or your symptoms. Depending on your sensitivities, you may have the following options:
- Antihistamines such as cetirizine (Zyrtec®), loratadine (Claritin®), or fexofenadine (Allegra®)
- Nasal spray with steroids (Flonase® or Nasacort®)
- Modifiers of leukotrienes such as montelukast
- Injections of omalizumab (Xolair®) for hives or food allergies
Allergy immunotherapy, such as oral immunotherapy (OIT), sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT), or allergy injections
Your doctor will advise you to keep an epinephrine auto-injector (EpiPen® or Auvi-Q®) on hand in case you have an allergy that could result in a severe reaction. You can use it as soon as you see any symptoms of a severe allergic reaction.
How does one treat or manage a food intolerance?
To reduce or cut out problematic foods, you might need to make dietary changes. For many persons with food intolerances, eating modest amounts of food results in minimal, if any, discomfort. Over-the-counter medications, such as antacids or antidiarrheals, might be helpful when symptoms arise. Lactose-free milk and dairy products can be consumed by those who are lactose intolerant. Lactase enzymes are also available in pharmacies. To break down lactose, you can add lactase drops straight to milk or take lactase pills before consuming dairy products.
Causes
Food allergy causes
Most food allergies are caused by peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, cow’s milk, wheat, sesame, fish, shellfish, and soy. Only about one in four kids will outgrow a peanut allergy, making it one of the most prevalent allergies in older kids.
Food intolerance causes
The following foods are known to trigger intolerance reactions in sensitive individuals:
- Dairy items, such as yoghurt, cheese, and milk
- Chocolate.
- Eggs, especially the white ones
- Flavouring agents like monosodium glutamate (MSG)
- Additives in food
- Citrus fruits, tomatoes, and strawberries
- Wine, especially red wine
- Some foods contain amines, including histamine.
How are Allergies Managed?
The best way to deal with allergies is to stay away from the items you’re allergic to. This is specifically avoiding food allergies.
Only foods to which you have a confirmed allergy should you avoid. Discover the words that are used on food labels to describe these foods, such as:
- Caseinates, whey, lactose, cheese, yoghurt, milk, and non-fat milk solids are examples of milk proteins.
- Lactose: lactose in milk
- Egg: eggs, lecithin, albumen, and yolk
- Gluten-containing foods include oats, cornflour, barley, rye, triticale, wheat bran, malt, and wheat.
- soy – soybeans, hydrolysed vegetable protein, soy protein isolate, soy lecithin
- salicylates – strawberries, tomatoes.
Take Care.