First Aid Manual

Food allergies and food intolerances are very similar terms that are often used interchangeably - however, they are two very different reactions that need to be more carefully understood.

Food allergies cause extreme allergic reactions. Your body views the food as a hostile invader, and produces increased levels of immunglobin E to attack it. This in turn triggers increased production of histamine, resulting in red, swelling and irritated skin, wheezing, runny nose, and a feeling of tightness in the nose and throat. Sometimes the reaction is even more extreme, where the body goes into anaphylactic shock, and beginsstarts to shut down. The most cited occurence of this is an allergic reaction to peanuts, where a quick injection of adrenaline is necessary to stop the often fatal anaphylaxis.

Food intolerance is a less dangerous allergic reaction. Most often observed in cases of lactose intolerance, food intolerance is where the body is unable to totally process a particular food. This commonly results in migraines, diarrhoea, vomiting, or feelings of dizziness and lethargy.

In both cases, an exclusion diet and skin prick tests can be highly effective in finding the specific foods that result in the reaction. Your diet can then be altered to remove the unwanted foods whilst still being nutritious and satisfying. Many special food allergy recipe books are available which can be a huge help to those suffering from food allergies.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 27th, 2008 at 9:40 pm and is filed under Diseases, Conditions and Treatments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.