What You Need To Know About Food Allergies

Can you imagine using food to threaten a child?  According to the Globe and Mail, kids with food allergies are faced with threats of being touched by or forced to eat a food they're supposed to avoid. Some call it "allergy bullying."

What about food allergies?   ABC News estimates that one in 25 Americans has a food allergy, including 3 million children.   

You can be allergic to a number of foods, but there are eight common allergens that account for most food allergy reactions:
    •milk
    •eggs
    •peanuts
    •soy
    •wheat
    •tree nuts (such as walnuts and cashews)
    •fish
    •shellfish (such as shrimp)

Research shows 20% of kids will outgrow food allergies when their immune system stops developing.  Some foods like milk, eggs, wheat or soy are easier to outgrow.  However, according to TeensHealth.com only 20% of children grow out of their allergic reaction to peanuts. 

Here's what happens in the human body during an allergic reaction.  In the body of a person allergic to peanuts, their immune system mistakenly believes the peanuts are harmful.  To protect the body, the immune system creates IgE antibodies to the peanuts.  The IgE antibodies  release a chemical into the bloodstream.

One of the chemicals released into the system is histamine.  This chemical acts on the eyes, nose, throat, lungs, skin and digestive system - also known as allergy symptoms.

Some allergic reactions affect only one area of the body such as the skin where hives appear. When the digestive system is  affected, you may experience stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.  With a respiratory allergic reaction you could get a runny nose, itchy, watery eyes and sneeze and cough.

Some people have serious life-threatening allergic reactions in which one or two body systems go out of whack - this is called anaphylaxis.  This includes swelling of the throat, serious breathing difficulty, a drop in blood pressure and loss of consciousness.

What can you do to avoid an allergic reaction to certain foods?

•Go see an allergist to run a skin test.  With a skin test the doctor will place liquid extracts of different foods on your forearm and prick the skin to see if there's an allergic reaction.  Once your doctor knows what allergens you have a reaction to, he can decide the best treatment for you. 

•Avoid the food in question. Some people experience allergic reactions mainly to raw food. Once certain foods are cooked, such as fruits or vegetables, the allergens are broken down and no longer cause symptoms.  The same is true for a person who is allergic to food oils. A person allergic to soy, corn or safflower is unlikely to be allergic to these oils because the purification and processing breaks down the oils.  Since peanut oil is less processed, it remains a potential allergen.

•Take medications for treating food allergies.  Antihistamines treat such symptoms as hives, runny nose or stomach pain connected with an allergic reaction. In a situation where there is breathing difficulty, sensation of tightness in the throat or where two body systems show allergic reactions, a doctor may prescribe epinephrine.

•Read labels in supermarkets and ask questions in restaurants.  Food manufacturers in the U.S. must list on their labels whether their product contains any of the eight common allergens.  It's important for a person to know whether the "hydrolyzed vegetable protein" in the food comes from peanuts. 

When in a restaurant and you know you have an allergy, ask your server what the food is made of. If the server does not know, he can ask the chef.

John
Email John:  johnsblog@teshmedia.com

For more information on food issues, diet and nutritional health, read my new book Intelligence For Your Life:  Powerful Lesson For Personal Growth.  You can purchase my book at your local bookstore or on line at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.

Comments

[Raw Chef Dan]

The fact is that allergies are our bodies' reaction to toxins of some sort that our detoxifying organs can no longer process do to saturation and over burden. Meaning we eat, drink and breathe so much that is not wanted by the human mechanism that the organs assigned to deal with this stuff reaches a breaking point, Once they cannot handle the load we start to have detoxing reaction (allergies) in uncomfortable places and uncomfortable ways. If the liver cannot get out the pollen then it comes out the tear ducts, nasal passages, skin… If the intestines are clogged (as we all are) then food additives, chemical and other toxins are forces to exit in the skin or worse forced out via a massive, violent dump from the system which we naively call the common cold, flue, headaches, upset stomach, sweating, vomiting, fever... i.e. sick!
If there is too much for this alternative effort, stuff just gets stored in fats and cholesterol which is, you guessed it, weight gain.
The best way to deal with allergies is to clean out the body, especially the digestive system. This is one reason that “Raw Foods” work so well for regenerating and rejuvenating. Raw Foods do not contain additives, chemical, stabilizers, emulsifiers, fillers, starches, coloring... "Raw Food" is simply pure nutrition without the junk. But better yet is, to actually take aggressive action and cleans the internal body with fasting and detox programs. Once the filtering organs are relived, even just a little, the body is somewhat free of this burden and begins to regenerate. Hey your car runs better with a new air filter right? You can take a simple five day fast called Fast & Juicy at www.rawchefdan.com and see for yourself how even a little cleaning can have a profound and undeniable affect. Here there is also a tone on raw food. Good luck and have fun!