Why Do People Have Food Allergies

Classifications And Types Of Food

Broad classifications are covered below. For regional types, see .

Nutrition And Dietary Problems

Between the extremes of optimal health and death from or , there is an array of disease states that can be caused or alleviated by changes in diet. Deficiencies, excesses, and imbalances in diet can produce negative impacts on health, which may lead to various health problems such as , , or , , as well as psychological and behavioral problems. The science of nutrition attempts to understand how and why specific dietary aspects influence health.

Nutrients in food are grouped into several categories. Macronutrients are fat, protein, and carbohydrates. Micronutrients are the and . Additionally, food contains water and .

As previously discussed, the body is designed by to enjoy sweet and fattening foods for evolutionary diets, ideal for . Thus, sweet and fattening foods in nature are typically rare and are very pleasurable to eat. In modern times, with , enjoyable foods are easily available to consumers. Unfortunately, this promotes in adults and children alike.

Food Sensitivities And Intolerances Begin In Your Digestive System

Sometimes, your digestive system cant properly break down certain kinds of foods. When you ingest these foods, you may experience bloating, diarrhea, constipation, stomach pain, and gas. This type of reaction is called a food intolerance or sensitivity.

Unlike a food allergy, food sensitivities are rarely life-threatening, although they can cause plenty of pain and discomfort. You may be able to manage your food intolerance symptoms using over-the-counter enzyme replacements.

Recommended Reading: Does Afrin Work For Allergies

Q 5: Is There Any Research Into Food Allergy

Research into why food allergy has become more common and prevention strategies is ongoing. It is not understood why food allergy has increased in recent years and possible explanations include:

• Hygiene hypothesis, which proposes that less exposure to infections in early life is associated with an increased chance of developing allergies.
• Delayed introduction of allergenic foods such as egg, peanut or tree nuts.
• Methods of food processing, such as roasted versus boiled peanuts.
• Development of allergy to food by skin exposure, such as the use of food-based skin products.

Research into food allergy treatment, management and epidemiology is also ongoing, including the areas of:

• Oral immunotherapy for food allergy, also known as desensitisation, to switch off food allergy once it has developed.
• Family history of food allergy, including why most children with food allergy do not have parents with food allergy, why their brothers and sisters have a slightly higher chance of having food allergy, and how this is affected by nationality and where the children and parents were born.

More Adults Have Adult

Although the majority of research focuses on childrens food allergies, a sizeable portion of the adult population has them, too, at about 5 percent . Some children may outgrow their food allergies, but many retain them into adulthood.

Few studies were previously led that focused on adult-onset food allergies, which is why Dr. Ruchi Gupta, food allergy researcher at the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Childrens Hospital of Chicago and Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, led a;new, large study;in 2014. Dr. Gupta said that anything you heard about adult-onset food allergy was anecdotal prior to this study. Researchers wanted to figure out how often this was happening and whether they could find any links.

Dr. Gupta and his colleagues from Northwestern University surveyed 40,447 adults. According to their research, nearly 52 percent of adults in the United States with reported food allergy developed their condition after the age of 18. Surprisingly, all of the Top 8 allergens were represented in their results. They found that the most common food allergen among adults was shellfish, affecting 3.9 percent of the U.S. population. Next in line were peanut allergies, which affected 2.4 percent, and tree nut allergies, falling in at 1.9 percent. Soy, milk and egg allergies were also evident, despite the fact that they were previously associated solely with childhood.

Read Also: Can Allergies Cause Asthma Attacks

Treatment Of Food Allergies In Children

As in adults, it is very important that your child stays away from;foods that cause allergies. If you are breastfeeding your child, it is important that you not eat foods to which your child is allergic.

You may need to give vitamins to your child if he or she is unable to eat certain foods. Discuss this with your child’s healthcare provider.

Your child’s healthcare provider may also prescribe an emergency kit.; Be sure to ask your child’s healthcare provider about an emergency kit if you don’t already have one.

Some children under the supervision of;their healthcare provider may be given certain foods after a period of 3 to 6;months. This finds out if the child has outgrown the allergy. ;

Moral Ethical And Health

Many individuals limit what foods they eat for reasons of morality or other habits. For instance, choose to forgo food from animal sources to varying degrees. Others choose a , avoiding sugars or animal fats and increasing consumption of dietary fiber and ., a serious problem in the western world, leads to higher chances of developing , , cancer and many other diseases. More recently, dietary habits have been influenced by the concerns that some people have about possible impacts on health or the environment from . Further concerns about the impact of industrial farming on , human health, and the are also having an effect on contemporary human dietary habits. This has led to the emergence of a movement with a preference for and .

You May Like: Can Allergies Cause Swollen Throat

Who Is At Risk

Anyone can experience a food allergy, but some risk factors make it more likely to develop:

• Family history: Food allergies can run in families. If close family members have asthma or any allergic diseases, including food allergies, eczema, and seasonal allergies, the person is more likely to develop food allergies.
• Other allergic conditions: A child with one allergic condition often develops others, too. These conditions include food allergies, asthma, and seasonal allergies.
• Early experiences:Research has shown that babies born by cesarean delivery may be more likely to develop food allergies. Introducing common allergens, such as peanuts, earlier in life can reduce the risk of food allergies developing.
• Gut bacteria:Some research shows that people with nut or seasonal allergies have altered gut bacteria. Specifically, they have higher levels of Bacteroidales and lower levels of Clostridiales strains. Scientists are trying to determine whether influencing gut bacteria could help treat or prevent allergies.

Tests For Food Allergies

If your doctor thinks a specific food allergy is likely, you may get tests to measure your allergic response.

One of these is a scratch puncture test. The doctor or technician puts a drop of a solution made with the food on your forearm or back. Then they’ll prick your skin with a needle through the drop and watch for swelling or redness.

Skin tests are quick, simple, and relatively safe. But experts don’t recommend making a diagnosis based on a skin test alone. Your skin test may show an allergy to a food without you having allergic reactions when eating that food. So your doctor will diagnose a food allergy only when you have a positive skin test and a history of reactions to the same food.

If you’re extremely allergic and have severe reactions, skin testing could be dangerous. It also can’t be done if you have severe eczema. Instead, your doctor can use blood tests such as RAST and ELISA that measure the amount of food-specific IgE. These tests may cost more, and results take longer. Again, a positive result doesn’t necessarily mean you have a food allergy.

A food challenge, or feeding test, is another way to confirm or rule out an allergy. It’s done with your doctor there. You eat small servings of food every 15-30 minutes that have increasing amounts of the suspected allergen in them until you either have a reaction or eat a meal-sized portion.

You May Like: Do Allergies Cause Chest Discomfort

What Is In An Environment

In conversation, people tend to use the word environment as a catchall for the great outdoors or perhaps to mean ones living space. But to epidemiologists and immunologists its much more. The womb, for instance, is one environment.

When Turvey speaks of the environment that the families enrolling in CHILD are exposed to, he breaks it down into several sub-categories. First, he sees the physical environments the home, the daycare, the level of pollution outside them; the levels of dust, mold, tobacco smoke and chemical exposures inside; and whether pets are owned.

And I think the infectious environment is important factors such as cold viruses and bacteria in a babys body, he says. He even views diet as another environment of stimuli that may influence immune responses: environment is everything were exposed to.

Turvey also describes a psycho-social environment, and here, hes largely talking about the amount of stress on the mother in pregnancy or in the home after birth. Is there, for instance, a financial burden or might her support network be lacking?

Theres evidence that stress can make asthma worse and may even set the scene for asthma predisposition in infants, he says. He thinks these aspects, even in utero, should not be underestimated.

International Food Imports And Exports

The reported that the European Union was the top food importer in 2005, followed at a distance by the US and Japan. ‘s need for food was especially well-illustrated in . Despite the implementation of , Britain remained dependent on food imports and the result was a long term engagement in the .

Food is traded and marketed on a global basis. The variety and availability of food is no longer restricted by the diversity of locally grown food or the limitations of the local growing season. Between 1961 and 1999, there was a 400% increase in worldwide food exports. Some countries are now economically dependent on food exports, which in some cases account for over 80% of all exports.

In 1994, over 100 countries became signatories to the of the in a dramatic increase in . This included an agreement to reduce subsidies paid to farmers, underpinned by the enforcement of , , import , and settlement of trade disputes that cannot be bilaterally resolved. Where trade barriers are raised on the disputed grounds of public health and safety, the WTO refer the dispute to the Commission, which was founded in 1962 by the and the World Health Organization. Trade liberalization has greatly affected world food trade.

You May Like: How Common Is Milk Allergy

Food Allergies Can Develop During Adulthood

Many of us associate food allergies with childhood, but a recent study reports that more than 48% of people with food allergies develop them as adults.; Even more worrisome is the fact that more than 51% of adults with food allergies will at some point experience a severe reaction that requires medical care.

Because food allergies can develop suddenly, you need to take symptoms like facial swelling, hives, and dizziness seriously. This is especially true if those reactions occur when youre eating foods that commonly trigger allergies such as shellfish, milk, peanuts, and tree nuts. And if you suddenly have difficulty breathing or swallowing, dont wait go to the nearest emergency room and get help immediately.

How Is A Food Allergy Diagnosed

Your doctor will look for any other conditions that could be causing symptoms. For example, if you have diarrhea after drinking milk, the doctor may check to see if lactose intolerance could be causing the problem instead of a food allergy. Another condition that may mimic food allergy symptoms is celiac disease. People with celiac disease are not able to tolerate gluten, a protein found in wheat and certain other grains.

If your doctor thinks you have a food allergy, you’ll probably see an . The allergist will ask you questions again and do a physical exam . He or she will probably also run some tests to help diagnose the problem.

The most common kind of allergy test is a skin test. A doctor or nurse will scratch the skin with a tiny bit of the extract, then wait a few minutes to see if there’s a reaction. Doctors may also do other tests, including a blood test. Blood tests show if there are antibodies to a particular food in the person’s blood.

If you do have a food allergy, your allergist will work with you to create a treatment plan. You’ll also develop a written food allergy emergency action plan to keep at school to help you avoid a serious reaction â and to provide guidance in case you do have a reaction.

Don’t Miss: What Is The Difference Between Sinus And Allergies

When Shouldnt I Give My Baby Allergens

If you have a history of food allergies in your family, you will likely be very afraid of introducing common allergens into your babys diet. The research however suggests that you still should. Speak with your doctor and someone who is knowledgeable about the studies and findings cited above for guidance. Many doctors do not know or are not advocating for early allergen introduction despite this current body of evidence. If you have other children with allergies, or a family history of food allergies, youre likely going to be quite cautious about this idea of feeding allergens to your baby. I know I would feel that way! What you need to know is that the safest time to introduce these foods to your child is when they are infants. if it were me and I had a new baby, I would be doing this under medical supervision and very cautiously with small amounts. Knowing what this research has taught us however is that babies have milder reactions and benefit from early exposure to PREVENT the development of allergies, so holding off on introducing them to these foods could in fact support the development of food allergies.

The contraindications for holding off on introducing these allergens are two things:

Symptoms Of Food Intolerance

Symptoms of food intolerance can include:;

• nervousness
• burning sensations on the skin
• tightness across the face and chest
• breathing problems asthma-like symptoms;

• persistent dizziness or collapse
• becoming pale and floppy .

Several factors can influence the severity of anaphylaxis, including exercise, heat, alcohol, the amount of food eaten, and how food is prepared and consumed.To prevent severe injury or death, a person with anaphylaxis requires an injection of adrenaline .;People who are considered by their doctor to be at risk of anaphylaxis are prescribed an autoinjector which contains a single fixed dose of adrenaline. They are designed to be used by non-medical people and should be administered into the outer mid-thigh muscle in the event of a severe allergic reaction.;Adrenaline autoinjectors are also available directly from a pharmacy.;

Don’t Miss: What’s The Best Antihistamine For Allergies

Why The World Is Becoming More Allergic To Food

Around the world, children are far more likely than ever before to develop food allergies.

Inquiries into the deaths of British teenagers after eating buttermilk, sesame and peanut have highlighted the sometimes tragic consequences. Last year, a six-year-old girl in Western Australia died as the result of a dairy allergy.

The rise in allergies in recent decades has been particularly noticeable in the West. Food allergy now affects about 7% of children in the UK and 9% of those in Australia, for example. Across Europe, 2% of adults have food allergies.

Life-threatening reactions can be prompted even by traces of the trigger foods, meaning patients and families live with fear and anxiety. The dietary restrictions which follow can become a burden to social and family lives.

While we can’t say for sure why allergy rates are increasing, researchers around the world are working hard to find ways to combat this phenomenon.

How Are Food Allergies Treated

There’s no cure for food allergies, and the only real way to treat them is to avoid the food in question. But doctors can prescribe medicines to help lessen symptoms if they do happen, and even save a person’s life if the reaction is serious.

Antihistamines can treat isolated symptoms such as hives, runny nose, or abdominal pain associated with an allergic reaction.

If your doctor diagnoses you with severe allergies, he or she may prescribe epinephrine, which can be lifesaving if a person has anaphylaxis. Because it’s important that the medicine get into a person’s bloodstream quickly, epinephrine comes in an auto-injector.

If your doctor has prescribed epinephrine, you’ll need to take the auto-injector with you everywhere you go and also keep one on hand at home, school, and any relatives’ or friends’ homes that you visit a lot.

So how do you know when you should use epinephrine? Your doctor will go over this with you, but signs and symptoms of anaphylaxis include:

• hoarseness
• swelling in the mouth
• trouble breathing
• any symptoms from two or more body systems , such as hives and belly pain
• any other combination of two or more symptoms that affect different parts of the body

Recommended Reading: How To Figure Out What Food Allergies You Have

Can You Develop Allergies Later In Life

It is certainly possible to develop allergies in adulthood. Adult-onset allergies can occur seemingly out of nowhere due to exposure to new allergens in the environment, family history and changes in the immune system. The most common food allergies in adults are peanuts, fish, shellfish such as shrimp, lobster and tree nuts .

Theres no way to avoid getting adult-onset allergies if youre susceptible to them, since you cant reasonably expect to know every trigger that could cause an allergic reaction and then avoid it. In addition, there is some recent research that indicates avoiding allergens can make it more likely for an individual to develop allergies, because the immune system is unfamiliar with more substances.