mardi 23 juillet 2013

What are the Common Food Allergies in Children and Adults

By Kate Richards


The immune system in the body sometimes reacts abnormally to perceived foreign substances even if they are not harmful; the reactions may be mild or even serious. Children have a tendency to suffer from allergies arising from immune reactions to eggs and milk. In the same way, adults also experience allergic reactions from foods such as vegetables and fruits. Moreover, certain foods like peanuts cause allergy to both adults and children.

The allergic reactions cause symptoms that can manifest in different parts of the body. Common allergy symptoms may include itching in mouth, ears, and throat as well as skin rash that is itchy and causes redness, a condition known as hives, asurticaria, or nettle rash. Other symptoms may appear as swollen face, eyes, tongue, lips, and mouth roof, a condition known as angioedema.

Some allergic reactions like anaphylaxis can cause very serious symptoms. Allergic reactions from foods arise when the body's immune system attacks proteins in the food. Although the proteins are harmless, the immune system perceives them as foreign substances. The body sends chemicals to attack the proteins, something that triggers allergy condition.

Although any food can trigger an allergy, there are particular foods that are associated with most of the allergies. Children tend to suffer allergies from foods such as tree nuts, peanuts, fish, eggs, milk, and shellfish. Children who have a history of suffering eczema during infancy are more likely to experience allergies from foods. In addition, if the eczema occurs early and is more serious, it increases the likelihood of suffering food allergy.

Adults experience allergy conditions from foods including vegetables and fruits. Fruits like kiwi fruit, apples, peaches, and pears tend to trigger allergy in adults. Likewise, vegetables such as carrots, parsnip, celery, and potatoes also cause such allergies. Other triggers of allergy in adults are crustaceans like shellfish, lobsters, crabs, and prawns. Tree nuts like brazil nuts, walnuts, pistachios, and almonds also cause the allergy reactions.

The reason why the immune system acts abnormally and attacks harmless proteins in foods is not exactly known. However, many people who have other allergic conditions like eczema, asthma, as well as hay fever, often suffer from food allergies. Food allergy has no treatment but the condition may be managed by eliminating the foods that tend to induce the allergy symptoms.

Certain medications can help in relieving the symptoms of allergy and they include antihistamine, which helps in treating mild and moderate allergy conditions. Adrenaline is an effective medication for treatment of serious food allergy conditions like anaphylaxis. Besides these treatments, people experiencing food allergies can get help from auto-injector pens, which have prescribed dosages for emergency relieve of allergy symptoms.

Children aged less than 3 years suffer from most food allergic conditions. Around one in every 14 children, aged less than 3 is likely to have one or several food allergies. Nonetheless, most children overcome the reactions caused by foods like eggs, milk, soya, and wheat before they start school meaning as their immune systems develop.




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