What Exactly Is A Food Allergy?

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Food allergies happen when your immune system launches an attack on a food protein. Intake of certain foods can over-stimulate body immune mechanism and it excretes the substances that results into allergic symptoms. The most common things someone could be allergic to are: shellfish, fish, eggs, tree nuts and peanuts. Although it is possible to be allergic to any food. Dairy allergies occur often in small children. Fortunately, many kids outgrow this allergy by the age of four or five.

How to Determine A Food Allergy

There are many ways available to determine which type of food is an allergen. Always monitor your body reactions after eating foods. If you feel some reactions like skin allergy, problems with breathing or some other sort of problems, you may have an allergy to such a food. (Sadly, sometimes to a food you just love).

You should give this information to your physician so that he will know what tests to run. There are many tests for allergies. The most common is a scratch test where you are tested for many food allergies at one time. If it is too dangerous to have the patient exposed to any allergen at all, a test called a radioallergosorbent can be done to test for allergies without exposing the patient to the allergen. This is a type of special blood test that will check for the IgE antibodies that will help to pinpoint an allergic reaction.

Another way to diagnose food allergies is elimination diets. This is a diet plan where everything the patient eats is carefully monitored, and new foods are slowly introduced one at a time. If the initial tests do not provide a reliable diagnosis there are other tests, that while they require close monitoring, can produce more accurate results.

You Can Prevent Food Allergies

The best possible solution for dealing with food allergies is not to eat any of the foods that you have an allergy to, avoid them at all possible costs. There is no "magic pill" for food allergies, much as sufferers would like. It may not be easy to avoid the foods that start the problems, but that's how you'll avoid the allergic reactions.

If you or your child has food allergies, you will need to be a label reader: Read all the information on the food labels, because even trace amounts of certain foods can cause a severe allergic reaction in some people. Even though you'll need to stop eating the food that you are allergic to, you may be able to find a substitute that tastes the same and doesn't cause the reaction. You can change your foods, for example, use soy milk instead cow milk, and you can use different products instead of eggs in some recipes.

Those who suffer from wheat or gluten allergies will find an increasing number of gluten and wheat free breads available today. Sometimes a food alternative can not be found if there is an allergy. Bottom line, stay a way from the trigger food if you can not find an alternative. On the positive side, reading labels and watching what you eat can make you much more healthy in the end.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Taylor Knight Creator of AllergyNut.com and Fellow Allergy Sufferer An Internet Resource made for Spotting, Stopping and Relieving Allergy Symptoms for people suffering from allergies. Stop by www.AllergyNut.com to learn more or ask questions about allergies.

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