Why Is Knowing About Food Allergies So Important?

There is hardly a person who is not touched in some way by either food allergy or food intolerance. Approximately 1% of all adults and 3% of children have clinically proven allergies to food. When someone is allergic to a food item, they have an abnormal response to the food item that is triggered by a specific reaction in their immune system and manifested by certain, often-characteristic symptoms. It is important for individuals with food allergies to identify the allergies because some bodily allergic reactions can be serious, even fatal, so avoiding the food could be imperative to your well being.

The immune system reacts to a food allergy involves two components of the immune system. The first component is a type of protein, an antibody called immunoglobuline E (IgE). This antibody circulates throughout the bloodstream. The other component is mast cells, which are specialized cells that are in all tissues of the body. A mast cell is more concentrated in areas of the body where allergic symptoms occur most like the nose, throat, lungs, skin, and the gastrointestinal tract.

Food allergies make us have symptoms that are unpleasant, and some can even make us really sick. We can even have a fatal reaction to a food. The symptoms are our body's way of making us aware of our health in a way that can lead to us being healthier. When we pay attention to our symptoms we can take the steps to see an allergist to be diagnosed, receive prescriptions or allergy shots that can then in turn create better symptom-free days for us.

Knowing what foods we are allergic to help us to make better food selections.

In adults the most common food allergies are to shellfish such as shrimp, crayfish, crab, and lobster. Adults are also commonly allergic to tree nuts such as walnuts. They can also be allergic to fish, eggs and peanuts. Peanuts are the most common food to cause anaphylactic reactions, which are severe food reactions that can lead to swelling of the mouth and throat leading to suffocating, and also shock, coma and death.

Children also have common allergies such as eggs, milk, peanuts and fruits (tomatoes and strawberries). Children can outgrow their allergies but adults who are still showing allergic reactions will usually have them for life.

Typically children and adults react to foods that they have more often or are common to the culture in which they live. Knowing about the food allergies can make managing your healthcare easier; instead of just treating symptoms as they occur you can actually avoid the food items that you are allergic too, this avoiding the symptoms altogether.