Food allergies come in many different “flavors”, from mouth and throat tingling and swelling after eating certain foods, to severe anaphylactic reactions and slower, more insidious issues. In some cases, individuals may experience postnasal drip, brain fog, or joint pain, to name a few common symptoms. When it comes to food allergies, many people experience rapid onset reactions that let them know that their body is having an adverse reaction to something that was eaten. Because a body’s natural reaction to a food it is allergic to can show up so quickly, it is typically easy to figure out what the allergy is, and to start avoiding whatever food is the problem.
What Are Food Allergies?
A food allergy occurs when an individual’s immune system mistakenly identifies a specific protein as a threat and sends a ton of white blood cells to attack it. When the protein enters into the digestive system, the body produces an antibody (Immunoglobulin E) and an allergic response takes place. Every person is different, as are the reactions to food allergens. In some cases, they are extremely mild, whereas other people have severe allergic reactions that can even be deadly. The most common food allergy reactions include the following:
- Hives
- Tingling mouth
- Swelling of the lips, tongue, face, or throat
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Cramping
- Diarrhea
- Drop in blood pressure
- Anaphylaxis
Common Food Allergies
Peanuts, tree nuts and shellfish are common culprits for these types of allergies. Blood tests are typically used by doctors in order to confirm suspicions. Many patients will be encouraged to carry an epinephrine auto injector to treat rapid onset and life threatening exposures of this type, and will usually have to avoid that particular food and its close cousins for life. However, research is being done on how to desensitize patients with these profound reactions, but for now avoidance is the only way.
Other Allergies
It is also possible to have a variety of reactions to food additives, for example, yellow dye or certain flavor enhancers or preservatives. These can be acute or insidious reactions, but are not technically classified as allergies. For this reason, there is no real way to test for these types of allergies, except to journal your diet and play “detective”. Reading labels and looking for similarities in meals that trigger reactions is a good way to figure out whether you are truly allergic or not.
Other patients will have a large variety of symptoms and can have several sensitivities at one time. Many of these patients will already know they have allergies to inhalants such as grass, dust or mold, but find their treatments methods are not working. There is some debate as to whether these kinds of reactions are a type of allergy or not, and the physiologic mechanisms are unknown at this time. There are, however, several effective ways to figure these out. The way to start is once again, to journal meals and symptoms, looking for patterns.
If you have any questions about food allergies or any of the other types of allergies mentioned above, please do not hesitate to contact Central Park today. Our ENT doctors and medical staff are in place to help ensure your quality of life is at its highest level, and this includes pinpointing and treating allergies.