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Common Reactions to Watch for with Food Allergies

Food allergies manifest themselves physically and cause a variety of symptoms. What happens is this: your body may view a food item as a foreign body and react accordingly to combat it. Your body will release chemicals such as histamines that can affect various systems in your body like the cardiovascular, respiratory, skin and gastrointestinal system.

For some people, a food allergy could be mild, producing minor burning or itching sensations on the tongue and in the mouth or it could be more severe causing throat swelling and impaired breathing. What is interesting is that people react in different ways to food in which they are allergic. Some symptoms are apparent within minutes while others may take a few hours.

Here are some reactions you might expect with food allergies:

* Runny nose and itchy eyes

* Rash on the skin or hives

* Nausea or vomiting

* Diarrhea and abdominal pain

* Throat and tongue swelling which could cause loss of voice or even wheezing

The most severe food allergic reaction would be anaphylaxis otherwise known as anaphylactic shock. This reaction can come on suddenly and could be a combination of symptoms. Typically several things will happen at the same time: a drop in blood pressure, respiratory passageways swelling up to constrict breathing, heart palpitations and more. For people with severe food allergies where one bite may be fatal, they must carry epinephrine to counteract the symptoms to buy time until a hospital can be reached.

For some people, it is quite easy to pinpoint a food allergy because a reaction is instantaneous. However, for others, it can cause quite a stir trying to nail down the culprit, particularly in foods with multiple ingredients. In this case, a food diary can be quite helpful in narrowing down the food items that are suspect.

Some doctors do believe that food allergies are hereditary, meaning if you have a parent that had hay fever and other seasonal allergies, this would make you more susceptible to food nuances. And because some food allergies are developed over time, to a certain extent, the environment and changing food manufacturing processes could also be probable causes as well.

Of course, it is important to know the difference between food intolerance and a food allergy. Millions more people have food intolerances like a problem digesting wheat or dairy but their immune systems do not kick in and try to combat what they perceive as a threat. Food intolerance is the result of your body not being able to process certain foods because it lacks an enzyme or chemical. With a food allergy, your body can process the food but it also perceives it as a foreign body and will release the antibodies to attack it, thus triggering an immune response.

As long as you know the difference between food intolerance and food allergies, you should be able to choose the best course of action to alleviate the problem. As mentioned above, keeping a food diary is a smart move and will help narrow the field of your problem.