Food Allergies

What are food allergies? At what age do they usually appear?

A food allergy is an abnormal reaction of the body where the immune system reacts (antibodies are produced) to food or a substance the body detects as hazardous or foreign. Usually, allergies tend to appear from early childhood, specially in the first years of life. Although very often the reaction at an early age is mild, later the allergy causing food intake as an adult is detected because the reaction is stronger.

What are the principal foods that cause allergies during early childhood?

Foods that usually cause the greatest number of allergies in children are: eggs, milk, peanuts, nuts and other seeds, seafood (shrimp, lobster, crabs, etc.), soybeans, wheat, strawberries and exotic fruits, tomatoes, etc. Also, reportedly people susceptible to allergies may develop abnormal reactions to substances such as certain food colors and preservatives, yet they do not stand out among the most common allergens.

What are the symptoms of food allergies?

Most frequently the symptoms that appear in producing a food allergy are: itching of the skin, eyes, nose, mouth, etc.
• swelling of eyelids, face, tongue, etc.
• appearance of wheal, boils, rashes, or specks on skin
• allergic rhinitis and/or asthma
• abdominal pain
• nausea, vomiting and diarrhea

These reactions may appear singly or in combination and in more serious cases even may bring about an anaphylactic shock that may lead to death.

Do all foods bring about the same allergic symptoms or do some foods bring about a stronger reaction?

Reactions that occur are not the same in all cases. These will depend on the individual person because each body responds differently and different responses may take place to the different types of foods. For example, in cases of allergies to seafood, the symptoms may tend to be a difficulty in eating and swallowing, swelling of the tongue, mouth, etc. And, in the case of other foods such as milk, the symptoms break out more commonly in the digestive system, with colic, diarrhea, abdominal pain, etc.

How can food allergies be detected? What type of exam should be made on children to detect if they have allergic reaction to certain foods?

Upon any suspicion of an abnormal reaction a child may have to the consumption of any given food or medication, it behooves to see the doctor immediately and take note of what the child ate or drank before.

To start, a blood test or skin test is to be made to see if high levels of antibodies are prevalent.

Furthermore, an elimination diet may be exercised by removing from the diet foods that commonly provoke allergy until the symptoms disappear. And, once the irritating food has been identified, it is literally left out from the regular food intake.

Also, an exposure test can be made under controlled conditions. The child or adult is exposed to the suspicious substance; however, this may provoke severe reactions. Therefore, this procedure should be carried out only under close medical supervision.

How can food allergies be prevented? Do food allergies disappear?

Some food allergies tend to disappear usually after age 5, as happens very often with milk or eggs. However, others tend to last the entire lifetime as are allergies to seafood, nuts, etc. Actually no given rule exists, because this depends solely on each individual person’s body.

When starting to introduce food with babies, it behooves to give each food separately one by one (and at least for 2-3 days consecutively), first to observe tolerance and to have the child develop a taste for the food, and secondly, to determine how the child reacts to the food. Once the child is known to tolerate several foods separately, combinations can be given. Otherwise, if an allergy is produced in a combination given first, the component causing the allergic reaction would not be detected.

The way to prevent allergies from appearing, when known and already diagnosed, is to avoid the foods or substances that produce them. Allergic reactions are not really avoidable at the beginning. When a child is exposed to a given food or substance for the first time, this may be enough to trigger the allergy as the child is genetically susceptible to suffer from it.

How should parents respond when their child has an allergic reaction to a food intake? How should they act at the moment it occurs?

Once the child is observed to have some abnormal symptom, the doctor should be called on immediately to find out how to proceed. Writing down the foods and substances the child has consumed in the last few hours usually is very useful to determine afterwards what most possibly caused the allergy.

What should parents watch out for with children who are allergic to certain food when eating outside their home? (In restaurants as well as family meals with relatives or in school activities)

When a child is allergic to some food not only is it ideal to avoid that particular food but also any other derived from it that contains it. If canned or packaged food products are purchased outside home, it is important to read carefully the nutrition label and watch out for the ingredients. If the particular substance does appear, then this food product should be avoided. In family meals it may happen to be easier to identify the particular substance because there is a more open communication. And, the child’s allergy should be announced so a special separate meal may be prepared or the allergy causing ingredient be excluded from the meal courses on the menu.

When an allergy prone child is enrolled in school, the issue should be discussed with the teachers of each school year so as to be advised of the matter. When older, the child shall be reminded to stay away from eating the allergy causing food and, if already able, to read the labels of food products in order to prevent complications.

In restaurants, courses may be ordered which, according to their description, do not contain the allergy causing food. Yet, it never harms to tell the waiter or person in charge to please exclude such-and-such ingredient from preparing the food so as to avoid the allergy from appearing.

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