Food allergies latest
Around 3% of adults and 6% of children in the UK have a food allergy, and this is rising. ”These figures” could be due to immune systems not being challenged by as many germs as they used to be, so they attack harmless things, such as food, instead, says University of Portsmouth’s Dr Carina Venter. ”It’s also though that with constant environmental and diet changes, our gut bacteria change and allergies develop.” Another idea is if we avoid certain foods when young, we have a harder time dealing with them later on.
Allergy or intolerance?
If you suffer from a food allergy, your body mistakenly identifies a food as something harmful, so produces an antibody, called IgE, which triggers a release of chemicals, causing allergic symptoms such as rashes, vomiting, migraines, sneezing and, in severe cases, anaphylactic shock.
An intolerance means you don’t have enough of a certain enzyme to properly digest a food. Symptoms include bloating and abdominal pain. A common intolerance is to lactose. This is due to a lack of the enzyme lactase, which breaks down milk sugars. To see if a food is causing the symptoms, eliminate it from your diet for six to eight weeks, says Dr Venter.
Get a diagnosis
Some food allergies, such as those from eggs, shrimp, peanuts and soy, can be identified by a skin prick or blood test, both of which test IgE levels. But, as the tests aren’t always reliable, an allergy specialist will also take a history of the symptoms. This helps to pinpoint the cause of the allergy, or work out if it is some other health complaint.
If you suspect that you are allergic to a food, ask your GP to refer you to an allergy specialist. ”I’d never recommend a home test to check for food allergies, as you won’t get an accurate result.” says Dr Fox, a consultant allergist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London.
Woman&home April 2011
