Food Allergies
What are food allergies?
Food allergies and other types of food hypersensitivities affect millions of Americans and their families. Food allergies occur when the body's immune system reacts to certain proteins in food. Food allergic reactions vary in severity from mild symptoms involving hives and lip swelling to severe, life-threatening symptoms, often called anaphylaxis, that may involve fatal respiratory problems and shock. While promising prevention and therapeutic strategies are being developed, allergies currently cannot be cured. Early recognition and learning how to manage food allergies, including which foods to avoid, are important measures to prevent serious health consequences.
The most common food allergens are:
- Milk
- Eggs
- Peanuts
- Tree Nuts
- Soy
- Shell Fish
- Fish
- Wheat/Gluten
- Sesame will be added as the 9th in January 2023
What is the difference between
food intolerance and food
allergy?
A food allergy usually occurs when the body's immune system sees a certain food as harmful and reacts by causing different symptoms. This is also known as allergic food reaction.
Food allergies are reaction to food proteins. A food intolerance is when the body's digestive system finds difficulty in digesting certain foods which can make the person feel extremely unwell. The abnormality in the body's ability to absorb nutrients is one of the likely reasons for food intolerance.
Treatement/Therapy
There's no cure for food allergies, but there are some new treatments that have shown to improve the tolerance levels of a person that is exposed to an allergen. This treatment can significantly improve their quality of life and maybe even prolong their life by reducing the potency of what once could have been a lethal reaction down to a non-threatening food sensitivity. The full potential of this treatment is that being exposed to a food allergen will no longer be life-threatening to those that suffer with this condition. This treatment is called oral immunotherapy
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