General Food Allergy

When someone’s immune system overreacts to a specific food item, they develop a food allergy. The immune system plays a significant role in protecting the body from pathogens.

However, when a person has a food allergy, their body misinterprets the food as dangerous and sends many signals to attack an otherwise harmless material. As more exposure occurs, milder reactions might develop into more severe ones, changing the severity of the symptoms.

Contrast food allergies with sensitivities or intolerances to avoid confusion. Gluten sensitivity and lactose intolerance don’t affect the immune system and have milder symptoms than food allergies.

Food allergies may significantly impact a person’s quality of life, affecting millions worldwide.

Common food allergies happen when the immune system misinterprets particular food proteins as dangerous and mounts an antibody response.

This article will explore the causes, signs, and treatment options for common food allergies to aid in your understanding.

How Can I Tell If I’m Allergic To Food?

Food allergies often manifest within a few minutes and two hours after consuming a particular food. After 4 to 6 hours, symptoms seldom ever start to appear. The following are some of the signs and symptoms of food allergies:

• Abdominal pain, diarrhoea, and vomiting
• Hives, eczema, or physical swelling
• Lips, tongue, or mouth swelling or itching
• Throat tightness or itch
• Breathing issues or wheezing
• Low blood pressure-related dizziness or fainting

What Foods Are The Main Allergens?
Even though any food can induce an allergic reaction, the top eight food allergens are the ones most frequently associated with food allergies:

• Peanuts
• Tree nuts (including hazelnuts, pecans, pine nuts, cashews, almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts, and macadamia nuts)
• Eggs
• Wheat, soy, or other grains
• Shellfish
• Fish
• Calf milk

The foods that often produce the most severe reactions are fish, shellfish, fish, and tree nuts. Egg, milk, peanut, wheat, soy, and tree nut allergies are prevalent in children.

Allergy symptoms to peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish typically last a lifetime and persist into adulthood, even though most children may “outgrow” their allergies.

How Is Food Sensitivity Identified?

Treatment and Diagnosis of Food Allergy

Your doctor will walk you through determining whether you have food allergies before making a recommendation. During your visit to Juniper Allergy, an allergy specialist will gather crucial data that will enable you to identify the dietary ingredients that might be bothering you.

Your physician will receive crucial information about what food(s) may induce an allergic reaction through a thorough assessment of your symptoms and family history, skin prick tests, and blood testing.

Your doctor could advise an elimination diet, which is removing particular foods from your diet, gradually reintroducing them one at a time, and keeping an eye on your symptoms.

You can also participate in an oral food challenge under medical supervision. Your doctor will measure out precise doses of a potential allergen to consume over a predetermined period of time.

By doing this, you can evaluate whether food that you might have once been allergic to can be brought back into your diet.

The easiest method to avoid allergic responses is avoiding the foods that trigger them, although cross-contamination is always possible.

Your allergist will provide you with a thorough emergency plan that you may follow and an EpiPen (a safety medication) that you should always have with you.

Start the Conversation

To talk about the following measures, you can dial (210) 888-1297 or send an email to help@juniperallergy.com.

Let Juniper Allergy help