Archive for the 'FOOD ALLERGIES' Category

Corn is a vegetable that can come in numerous forms. It has been around for thousands of years.

Corn originally came from teosinte, which is a wild grass, in Mexico. The Indians once ate a lot of corn as a staple to their diets.

People say that corn was there on the first Thanksgiving.

There is nothing like a hot piece of corn, with fresh country butter on it, as a side dish.

Corn may be the one vegetable that you really love, but you are allergic to it. Living a life with a corn allergy is no fun, but it can be manageable with the right information.

Allergic Reactions

If you are allergic to corn then you may suffer from one or more symptoms. You may have an asthma attack if you are allergic to corn. This will surface in shortness of breath when you eat something that has corn present in it.

Other symptoms that will occur are a headache that you feel coming on, and a rash starting to form on your body. Swelling in your throat, anaphylaxis, and a drop in your blood pressure are also signs that you are allergic to corn.

Allergies have become a common occurrence. Your allergy is unique to only you.

Another person may not be allergic to what bothers you. Your physician will want to run different allergy tests to try to determine what is causing your allergies.

If you are a person with food allergies then you will have to make a commitment to change your way of eating.

The food, or foods, that you are allergic to, may be something that you really enjoy eating. It may be a hard thing for you not eat these.

You may have to sacrifice your favorite foods to avoid having an allergic reaction. Replacing your favorite food with another food that you love will help.

Rotation Diet

Your physician will help you with a special diet, if you have food allergies. If you are allergic to only one food type, then the process will not be hard for you.

If you are not so lucky, then you will have to adhere to the special diet that you are given. Usually your physician will be prescribing that you go onto a rotation diet.

Unlike an mold or pollen allergies, people who have an allergy to wheat have to live with it year around.

This allergy doesn’t go away or get better as the season changes. A wheat allergy has to be managed at all times.

If you have been diagnosed with this condition, learning which foods contain wheat is very important.

Unfortunately, most food packages don’t say wheat, or wheat products, on them.

You have to learn which ingredients and foods are wheat products, and avoid them at all cost.

Common Wheat Terms and Foods

There are many terms that stand for wheat. Gluten, Vegetable starch, and Vegetable gum are all ingredients that contain wheat. If you see these ingredients listed on a food label, you should not eat the product.

You will find, with a little research, that most crackers, breads, cookies, and baked goods contain wheat.

Unless a pastry or baked food is specifically labeled to be wheat free, you will want to check the ingredients label very carefully. There are also many foods that contain wheat that seem perfectly safe.

For example, many brands of catsup and ice cream contain wheat flour. Never assume that a product is safe before checking the label.

At the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology, attendees were discussing the lack of therapy available to peanut allergy sufferers.

There is currently an ongoing blind trial, involving 29, under sixteen all with a history of immunoglobulin E medicated peanut allergy.

Although in its very early stages, data shows that when receiving controlled peanut protein, the participants had a slight lessening of their symptoms.

In the placebo managed research, the children had IgE levels of more than 15 KU/L. Some have already taken part in a peanut challenge whilst nearly twenty have actually finished the treatment part of the study.

Of the latter only slight symptoms were experienced such as itching and light cases of hives or stomach pain. The drug, epinephrine, was only required by one individual who had received the placebo.

Stacie Jones MD, the professor of pediatrics in Little Rock, Arkansas admits there is still a lot of research that needs to be carried out. Speaking at the recent meeting, she said that the future focus will be on immunology and the mechanics linked to it.

With over three million American citizens allergic to peanuts, it is a relief to know that health researchers have some good news to report.

At a recent meeting, participants were told that the results of trials on a small but significant amount of child sufferers have produced some positive results.

The therapy works by gradually building up the body’s tolerance to it’s own particular allergy by the test subject exposing themselves to an increasing level of, in this case, peanut flour. [Allergy Test]

By testing the participants blood, researchers have discovered that the immune system begins to ignore the substance rather than reacting negatively against it. This is seen as a major breakthrough by the Duke University who are carrying out this research.

Only a small minority of children will ever outgrow their allergy to walnuts, tree nuts or most commonly peanuts. For the majority, they face a lifetime of precautionary measures that can hit a youngster very hard.

In a further trial set up by Wesley Burks and his Duke team, a sample of ten children, were blindly given either placebo or peanut flour.

A large percentage of children and adults suffer from diverse forms of allergy in Britain, children being more susceptible to allergies than adults.

Allergies can give diverse symptoms from more serious ones such as anaphylaxis shock, which occurs after eating peanuts to migraines due to dairy products.

Some symptoms can also be less disturbing, so much so that it takes some time for people to even realise they do have an allergy to that substance. These symptoms can range from headaches, fatigue, bloating as well as depression.

Dairy products, eggs, chocolate, yeast and gluten are the most common allergy foods, although you cannot be sure these are responsible for your unpleasant symptoms until you have been tested.

There are ways to determine whether you are allergic to certain foods, by purchasing a specially conceived test, which will indicate your allergy levels, it is quite simple to use at home.

It is sent through the mail and all you need to do is prick your fingers for blood samples and follow the instructions, and then send it back, you will have your results after a few days sent to your home.

People with food allergies should be constantly cautious about what they ingest because serious food allergies can lead to life threatening problems like anaphylactic shocks.

Food allergies can range from mild to severe depending on the amount of allergens you consume.

The FDA (food and drug administration) suggests that food manufacturers to include a list of common food allergens on their products and the labels must be in simple terms that every older child and adult can easily understand.

Many foods contain hidden ingredients that can be quite harmful to your body. However, here are some common triggers of food that can potentially cause food allergy symptoms.

Egg

Some of you can be so sensitive to egg proteins that even cooking fumes can trigger allergic reactions. It is believed that egg is one of the most common allergen that is responsible for food allergy in many individuals.

Hidden sources of egg protein include hot dogs, breads, rolls, pastas, candies and other baked goods such as marshmallows, mayonnaise, etc.

Milk

People who are very sensitive to milk can experience severe allergic reactions even with a very little quantity of milk protein. Cow’s milk and other products made from milk including cheese, cream, and yogurt are common triggers of allergic reactions in people who has milk allergy.

Food intolerance is universally widespread and affects a great number of people, causing nausea or even allergies.

These symptoms occur when the body is unable to appropriately digest specific types of food, notably dairy products, which are the most common to food intolerance.

Some people are born with these intolerances, commonly to lactose, while others develop them with age or during specific periods of life.

Common symptoms that occur when specific foods are not properly digested are bloating sensations followed by abdominal pain, nausea, throat irritation and diarrhoea.

Sometimes intolerance to food types and allergies can set off similar symptoms, though generally the reaction is more severe in allergies, with additional signs such as vomiting, swelling of the throat and lips and wheezing.

Symptoms usually appear immediately after having eaten the detrimental food type and the consequences can be very serious, it is therefore important to contact a doctor as soon as possible.

Any person, who has these above-mentioned signs, must determine whether they are caused by an allergy to the food type or merely intolerance.

An allergy test is therefore necessary in order to ascertain which food is causing the reactions, and if indeed there is an allergy.

Measures to protect children with nut allergies are becoming increasingly absurd and hysterical, say experts.

A peanut on the floor of a US school bus recently led to evacuation and decontamination for fear it might have affected the 10-year-old passengers.

Such extreme steps to reduce exposure to nuts are not isolated and are fueling fear and anxiety, reports the British Medical Journal Online.

A UK allergy expert said a similar “epidemic” was present in Britain.

‘Gross over-reaction’

Professor Nicolas Christakis, a professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School, told the BMJ there was “a gross over-reaction to the magnitude of the threat” posed by food allergies, and particularly nut allergies.

In the US, serious allergic reactions to foods cause just 2,000 of more than 30 million hospitalisations a year and comparatively few deaths - 150 a year from all food allergies combined. In the UK there are around 10 deaths each year from food allergies.

Professor Christakis said the issue was not whether nut allergies existed or whether they could occasionally be serious. Nor was the issue whether reasonable preventative steps should be made for the few children who had documented serious allergies, he argued. “The issue is what accounts for the extreme responses to nut allergies.”

Whether you are traveling across the world for vacation or for work across the state, you need to be very vigilant on your diet, particularly if you suffer from a food allergy.

While it can be very difficult to travel with food allergies, it is not always possible to prevent food allergic reactions when you are traveling.

Fortunately, there are numerous tips and tricks to protect you from various reactions caused by food allergens. Here are a couple of ways to control food allergies while traveling:

1. Make a list of food allergens that cause severe allergic reactions and carry it along with you as you travel. Whenever you eat out, show the list to the waiter and ask him to avoid including those particular allergic ingredients in your order.
2. If you plan to eat on a plane, contact the concerned person in the airlines or the caterer and ask for necessary help. Most airlines offer special meals for those who suffer from food allergies.
3. Plan ahead and pack your food items and other essentials. Should you not find safe food on your journey, at least you will be able to fill up with these snacks.