Food Allergies: Which Food Products Aren't For You?

Shuaib Ahmed
ILLUMINATION
Published in
3 min readFeb 26, 2021

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Allergic reactions occur in most people in one form or another. But among the common types are food allergies, which cause adverse immune system reactions once you ingest a particular food protein. It may be as simple as peanuts, or maybe shrimp, but the fundamental principle of reactions is the same.

How The Body Reacts To Allergens In Food

How much the body will react when exposed to a food allergen ranges from mild irritation to anaphylaxis, which has the complete body reacting to the allergen and even possibly causing death.

Depending on the severity of your allergy, reaction to food allergens can occur from a couple of hours to even just a couple of seconds after ingestion of the food containing the allergen.

In some sorts of reactions, maybe there’s some mild tissue swelling, being itchy and irritating at the foremost. Of course, the swelling varies, so it may also cause an obstruction within the air tract and causing difficulty breathing.

Allergic Reaction on Back
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Common Food Allergens

At over ninety percent of all causes of allergies, the most common food allergens have most of the attention given to food allergies.
They are divided into eight materials, and individually they’re common enough that an individual having an allergy to those food materials better keep one’s hands off from them to avoid having to undergo treatment.

Being allergic to milk is pretty common, and so are peanuts, eggs, soy, and wheat to name some. These are found in everyday food products that an individual allergic to them will need to pay careful attention to what he or she is eating to avoid having an allergy.

Seafood and shellfish are also quite common, though, in fact, it's easier to identify these among the many food products out in everyday surroundings.

Diagnosis, Testing, And Treatment

If you think that you're allergic to a particular food, it might be best to consult an expert allergist. Your physician is going to guide you in this area and recommend someone you can visit. They will conduct tests to examine what kind of material you're allergic to.

One common testing method is the skin prick test to check if an individual is allergic to the media being exposed below the skin. Another would be the blood test diagnosis for an additional allergen.

The final test type would be to have a blindfold test to examine if the patient is allergic to the particular allergen or a placebo. This can be usually conducted within the hospital setting, where patients could also be treated quickly if their reaction becomes severe.

Once a patient has been identified as having an allergy to food products, several treatment options are often taken at this point.

There is no cure if you’re allergic to a particular food protein, and most doctors agree that injections or allergy shots don’t work for food allergies.

The surest method for treatment of food allergies is avoidance, and with this, you’ll just need to learn which food your allergen is present in and avoid it.

For accidental ingestions, epinephrine is often given to stabilize the patient’s system. Before you discover yourself in this situation, though, it might be best to make sure that you simply know just what to do before a severe reaction occurs.

If you have questions, respond to this story and I will reply as soon as possible. Thanks for reading, have a nice day.

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