FOOD ALLERGIES

There is a difference between being intolerant to certain foods and being allergic to particular foods.  Food intolerance means that a food upsets your intestines, usually due to enzymes deficiency.  A lactose deficiency, for example, causes lactose intolerance.  Lactose intolerance affects 20% of Caucasian Americans, 75% of African Americans, and 50% of Hispanic Americans.  Gluten intolerance (found in wheat, rye, barley, and perhaps oats) affects 1 out of every 150 Americans and can cause malnutrition, premature osteoporosis, colon cancer, thyroid disease, diabetes, arthritis, miscarriage, and birth defects.

A food allergy means that the body’s disease fighting immune system is mistakenly called into action, creating unpleasant and sometimes life-threatening symptoms.  Peanuts, milk, eggs, shelfish, tree nuts, fish, soy, and wheat account for 90% of food allergies.  Eight percent of children and 2% of adults have food allergies.  For some members of this group, food-based allergies may be serious or even life threatening.

Because allergies generally develop slowly, initial symptoms may not be fully recognized or even associated with the food.  It takes three exposures to the allergic food to obtain a significant food allergy reaction.  The first time someone eats a food she or he is allergic to, they may have little to no reaction.  The second time an individual eats this food, he or she will most likely have a more observable reaction such as breaking out in hives, itching, runny nose, burning in the mouth, and wheezing.  The third exposure can bring on a full-brown reaction, which for peanut allergies, among others, can result in death within minutes.  There is no cure for food allergies, and the treatment is to avoid these foods and for the food allergy person to carry an epi-pin (epinephrine) with him or her at all times.