Facts About Food Allergies

For many people, food allergies can affect their lives and eating habits with varying degrees of severity.  Experiencing a bodily aversion to certain foods can be a hindrance but remaining knowledgeable about the effects that certain cuisines can have on specific bodies could save a life.  Allergies cause the body’s immune system to jump into overdrive and make it produce massive amounts of histamine which can in turn cause anaphylaxis, a potentially fatal problem that at its worst can cut off air from the lungs by making the esophagus and throat swell thereby causing death.  In its lesser stages, an allergic reaction can make the person break out in hives and itchy skin rashes, cause diarrhea, vomiting, and swollen lips. Inflammation from food intolerance and allergies can have a range of effects on the health of a person, such as fatigue, migraines, obesity, eczema, and gastrointestinal disorders.  Many times people do not know that they have an intolerance for a food if they do not observe that they are often uncomfortable with the irritating symptoms previously mentioned.  There are medical tests, such as ALCAT, available for adults and children who are having an allergic reaction, but being informed when going in for testing is the best bet to not being misdiagnosed with allergies that you don’t have.  If symptoms of hives, rash, discomfort are discovered after a meal please note what has been consumed in the past several hours so that there isn’t blind testing occurring. The tests can be sensitive, so simply going in and getting tested for everything may result in false positives.  Some food allergies are more common in children (cow’s milk, peanuts, hen’s eggs) and some are more likely in adults (shellfish allergies, peanuts, certain fruits) with the chance for tolerance to those foods to build over time so later testing is advised.  Newly developed guidelines in testing suggest that patients test every so often to see if the allergy to specific foods fades over time, especially with children because what affects them in childhood may no longer be a problem in adulthood.  If someone has a known severe allergy to a certain food, it is imperative that they wear a medical bracelet and stay diligent in specifying said allergy at restaurants.  Learn more about allergy testing at our Chicago Chiropractic clinic website. Our blog has numerous posts on this topic.