In contrast to people suffering from food intolerance, people with food allergy are usually only hypersensitive to quite a small amount of provisions, but even very small amounts of the allergy-provoking provision is capable of causing an allergic reaction. In classic food allergy, the immune system reacts to the proteins in certain provisions. Also see "Allergy".
It is usually the level of the antibodies of the E type that is elevated, but imbalances in the ratio between different types of white blood cells are also said to be present. Skin- and blood tests will most often confirm the diagnosis but this is not always the case. This might be due to the fact that the reaction to partly digested food is different from the reaction occuring when a substance is put on the skin in a hypersensitivity test. If you suffer from true allergy to a certain provision, you cannot tolerate it even if it is organic.
Food allergy is most often seen in children and youngsters, and most often milk, eggs, fish, nuts, soya, and cereals are involved.
So-called cross-allergy can occur in people who are allergic to pollen because some types of pollen have allergens in common with certain provisions. This means that if you for example are allergic to grass pollen, in some cases you will react allergically to beans, chickpeas, lentels, and peas.
Various studies indicate that the risk of having allergy (including food allergy) is increased if one or both your parents have allergy. A polluted environment does not come in first when it comes to causes of the increasing number of cases of people with food allergy. However, exposure to tobacco smoke and too early introduction of solid food to babies have been proposed as explanations. The development of a healthy intestinal flora in the intestinal canal of the newborn is believed to be of great importance in order to avoid food allergy. There is reason to believe that being born via a Ceasarean section and being exposed to antibiotics at an early age can be contributing factors in the development of food allergy.
In relation to the birth, a blood sample taken from the umbilical cord can reveal if the child is predisposed to developing allergy.
Symptoms of allergy appear quickly after consuming the allergy-provoking provisions - usually within minutes or few hours. The symptoms can be very different in strength and manifestation.
If we begin with the light symptoms, they may be burning sensations in the mouth, swellings of the throat and tongue, respiratory difficulties, itching rashes, nausea, diarrhoea, constipation, vomiting, stomach cramps, and blood pressure drops. In the most severe cases, a person can die of even small amounts of an allergy-provoking provision if he/she does not get medical treatment within 30 minutes.
Colic and eczema are sure indications of food allergy in babies. Via the mother's milk, the baby can get substances to which he/she is allergic. Not all children suffering from food allergy, however, have these problems.
