By Liz Friedrich
For The Salisbury Post
As a parent, it is downright scary when your child has a food allergy.
Suddenly, it can seem like the simplest event ó like a Sunday dinner or trip to the ballpark ó is full of peril.
That’s why it’s important to diagnose food allergies correctly. Food allergies are fairly uncommon; only about 8 percent of children and 2 percent of adults have true food allergies. Many of the issues that are associated with food are caused by food intolerances, not true food allergies.
A food allergy is a response of the immune system to food.
There are different types of food allergies and their symptoms vary. Symptoms can be mild and may include skin rashes or gastrointestinal upset. Allergies can also have more reactions that include breathing problems, decreased blood pressure and even anaphylactic shock, which can result in death.
If a child is allergic to a food, a similar reaction will occur repeatedly after eating, inhaling, or touching that food.
The most common food allergens are cow’s milk, eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts (walnuts, cashews, almonds, etc.), wheat, fish and shellfish. In the case of a true allergy, avoiding the food completely is really the only treatment.
Avoiding a food can be hard because so many packaged and processed foods contain mixed ingredients, so reading food labels becomes critically important for those with food allergies.
A food intolerance is usually not as serious as food allergy and does not involve the immune system. Symptoms are similar to food allergies ó gastrointestinal problems (such as vomiting or diarrhea), skin rashes, and respiratory problems.
Two classic examples of food intolerance are lactose intolerance, which is an inability to digest milk, and headaches or abdominal pain that are sometimes a result of eating MSG.
Food intolerances can occur to almost any food. Sometimes in the case of a food intolerance, a child can eat a small amounts of the food without a reaction. For example, a child may get a rash around the mouth when eating an orange, but that same child might be able to eat a small piece of orange in a fruit salad without any problems.Diagnosing a food allergy is not easy, but it is important for a child’s safety. A doctor who is an allergy specialist (called an allergist) can help with a diagnosis. An allergist can do blood tests or skin tests to identify an allergy. A food diary can link symptoms with food intake.
Eliminating suspect foods, then adding them back to the diet slowly and monitoring for symptoms, can also help make a diagnosis.
Food allergies and intolerances can be inconvenient and even dangerous and should be taken very seriously. On the other hand, restricting foods or groups of foods when it is not really necessary can result in serious nutrient deficiencies that could cause long-term health problems.When removing a group of foods (dairy foods, for example, in the case of a milk allergy) other sources of calcium, vitamin D, and protein will need to be added to the diet.
It appears that some food allergies can be outgrown over time.
However, patients allergic to nuts, peanut, fish, and shellfish rarely lose their allergies. Those with other allergies can be retested every few years to see if the allergy has disappeared.
Liz Friedrich, MPH, RD, LDN, is a nutrition and health promotion consultant. Contact her at ekf@carolina.rr. com.