Food Allergies and What It Can Do

Food allergies can be caused due to hypersensitive reaction of the immune system to certain food products. Food intolerance is often confused and misinterpreted as a food allergy. When in actuality a food allergy occurs in 1-2 out of 100 adults. Although the allergy is more common in children. The symptoms of food allergies are usually seen with minutes or maximum within an hour after the consumption of the food. In very rare cases the effects do not show for hours. The most common immediate allergic reactions that are seen are itchiness of skin and rashes that develop. Itchy feeling on the nose and eyes, a running nose and sneezing are the few prominent effects. Itchiness and swelling of the lips is the main symptom that is seen as the lips are the first to come in contact with the food. Apart from this nausea, diarrhea, stomach pains, vomiting are as also observed.

Anaphylaxis is a life threatening allergic reaction. Very tiny amounts of the allergic food is also sufficient for anaphylaxis to occur. If a person is very susceptible to an allergic reaction due to a certain food product, extreme precaution is advised so as to not increase the chance of allergic reaction. A very common allergy found in infants is an allergy towards cow's milk. At least 2 out of 100 children suffer from allergy to cow's milk. This allergy, although very soon disappears after a certain age. Usually 9 out of 10 children lose it by the age of 3. It is very rare to find adults allergic to cow's milk. Another form of food allergy that is prominent in kids is allergy to egg and egg products. Unlike allergy to cow's milk, this soon disappears after a certain age, in some children an allergy to eggs remains for a very long time.