0505050387
0505050387
Published on: 24th January 2019
Medically reviewed by: General Practitioner at First Response Healthcare
Food allergy is an abnormal response to a food triggered by your body’s immune system. Food allergy occurs when the body’s immune system reacts to a protein in a certain food, causing the release of antibodies and histamine. The release of histamine causes symptoms. In adults, the foods that most often trigger allergic reactions include fish, shellfish, peanuts, and tree nuts, such as walnuts. Problem foods for children can include eggs, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, and wheat.
The precise distinction between food intolerance and a food allergy is often missed. A true food allergy requires the presence of fast-acting immunoglobulin IgE antibodies against the food. If someone has a food allergy, this means his/her immune system reacts to a particular food. This causes immediate symptoms such as itchiness, rashes and swelling. Sometimes this reaction can be so severe that it can cause a life-threatening reaction known as anaphylaxis.
How Do You Know if You Have a Food Allergy ?
Food Allergy symptoms can begin within minutes to 2 hours of eating the problem food. Symptoms can include eczema, hives, facial swelling, itching or swelling of the lips, tongue or mouth, vomiting, diarrhoea, itching or tightness in the throat, and difficulty in breathing.
Symptoms can vary from mild to severe. Even tiny amounts of a problem food can cause serious reactions in very sensitive people. Occasionally, a very severe, rapidly progressing and life-threatening allergic reaction, known as anaphylaxis, can occur. This requires immediate first aid treatment, for example with an EpiPen adrenaline injection.
True food allergy is most common in children, but only affects about 1% of adults. Most children will grow out of food allergies by school age, although seafood and nut allergies tend to be life-long.
The Most Common Food Allergy Signs and Symptoms Include:
- Tingling or itching in the mouth.
- Hives, itching or eczema.
- Dry, itchy throat and Tongue
- Swelling of the lips, face, tongue and throat or other parts of the body.
- Red and Itchy eyes
- Coughing, Wheezing, nasal congestion, shortness of breadth or trouble breathing.
- Abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting.
- Dizziness, lightheadedness or fainting / collapsing.
- Low Blood Pressure
What Happens to Your Body When You Have a Food Allergy?
The first time you eat a food that triggers an allergic reaction, your body’s immune system recognizes the food as a foreign substance (allergen). When you eat the offending food again, the antibodies attack the allergen, releasing histamine and other chemicals that cause the symptoms of an allergic reaction.
Allergy Test Options:
Adult Food Allergy Panel – 44 Foods
This is a comprehensive food allergy test constituting 44 different panels. It is a combination of many different groups of allergens which will help to narrow down and detect specific allergy against the particular group. Panel includes Egg White, Egg Yolk, Milk, Hazelnut, Wheat Flour, Soybean, Pistachio, Nut, Coconut, Orange, Strawberry, Banana, Mango, Tomato, Carrot, Lens,Chicken/Mutton, Potato, Onion,Crab/Shrimp, Peanut, Cashew Nut, Sesame Seeds, Casein, Cheese(Cow), Green Beans, Duck, Tuna, Rice Flour, Codfish/Salmon, Apple, Kiwi, Gluten, Broad Bean, Walnut, Pea, Grapes, Date, Olive, Cacao, Bell Pepper, Sunlower Seed, Ccd1 Bromelain, Ccd2 Horseradish Peroxidase, Ccd3 Ascorbate Oxidase
Adult Respiratory Allergy Panel – 44 Allergens
This is a comprehensive respiratory allergy test constituting 44 different panels. It is a combination of many different groups of allergens which will help to narrow down and detect specific allergy against the particular group.– This test measures IgE responses to 44 respiratory allergens which include Pteronyssinu, Derm. Farinae, Cockroach, Camel hair, Plane Tree, Oak, white, Olive, Cypress, Corn, Timothy grass, Mixed grasses, Grain pollen mix, Weed mixture 11, Mugwort, Parietaria, Date Palm, Nettle, Mesquite, Camomile, Cat epithel, Candida albicans, Dog Epithel, Feather-mix, Acacia, Cow/Sheep, Chicken feather, Penicillium notatum, Aspergillus fumigatus, Cladosporium herbarum, Alternaria alternate, Ascarus Siro, Alder, Ox Eye Daisy, Hazel, Rye Pollen, Plantain, Bee Venon, Wasp venom, Latex, Horse, Russian Thistle, Rabbit, Golden hamster, Sandfly.
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