Food allergies happen when our immune system launches a fight against food protein. Consuming the food can send your immune system into over drive, so that it releases all the chemicals that root allergy symptoms. While it’s possible to be allergic to almost any foodstuff, the most common allergy causing foodstuffs are: Peanuts and tree nuts. In kids it is not uncommon to see allergies to cow’s milk. Luckily, many kids outgrow this allergy by the age of 4 or 5.

How Food Allergy Is Cured?

Diagnosis of a food allergy can take numerous different paths. When you notice reactions such as itching, hives, breathing problems, or other indications of an allergy attack directly after you’ve consumed a certain food, then the odds are that you’ve an allergy (Sadly, At times to a food you just love munching).

This information is helpful to your doctor, because it gives a good beginning point for testing. Testing will usually take the form of a scratch test, where you’re tested for a number of food allergies at once.

In some cases where exposing any food allergen to the patient can be too hazardous, a RAST (radioallergosorbent test) will be done. This test is a blood test that looks for the IgE antibodies that point out an allergic reaction.

Another method to diagnose food allergies is exclusion diets. It’s a diet plan where all the foodstuffs a patient eats is cautiously monitored, & new foods are gradually introduced one at a time. This kind of diagnosis needs very close monitoring, but it’s sometimes the best path to diagnosis if other tests don’t provide answers.

Deterrence of Food Allergies

A critical way to deal with food allergies is avoiding from the foods you are allergic to. There is no “magical pill” for food allergies, much as patients would like. Avoiding allergic foods can most surely cause some inconvenience, but it’s the only way through which you can be totally certain to get rid of allergic reactions.

If you or your child has food allergies, you’ll need to be a label reader: Read all the ingredients on the food labels, because even small amount of certain foods can cause a severe allergic reaction in some people. While you’ll need to remove the offending food, there are sometimes substitutions that will give you the similar taste you like, without the allergen. For instance, a soy milk allergy can be handled by switching to cow milk.

Those who suffer from gluten or wheat allergies will find an increasing number of wheat and gluten free breads available in the market. Whether your food allergen has an alternate available or not, the best answer is the apparent one: You just have to stay away from the offending foodstuff as much as feasible. On the bright side of things, all that label reading & food monitoring can make you a Fit & Healthy person.

In our body, the blood has white blood cells which are part of the immune system of the body. These lymphocytes (WBC’s) scan the various proteins for their chemical signatures, to identify them as self proteins or foreign proteins. If it recognizes any invading protein, it converts itself to plasma cells in the lymph nodes and release antibodies.

These antibodies then destroy the foreign protein and save our body from any kind of infection. A person suffering from an allergy has a genetic defect in which the white blood cells (WBC’s) do not correctly identify the proteins and overreact to them. Now, when the allergen is identified, the lymphocytes release antibodies in huge numbers. But there is no protein to attach to, as there is no real threat to the body so these antibodies attach themselves to the mast cells containing histamine. Histamine is an anti-allergen and isolates the area from allergens. When the body is exposed to the same allergen again, these antibodies destroy the mast cells and enormous amount of histamine is released in the body.

How is this increased amount of histamine levels in our body related to the allergic reactions? Actually, this histamine only is responsible for redness of skin, swelling, itching or hives on exposure to the allergen. Blood vessels contract and the gaps left are filled with fluid causing soreness and puffiness which can sometimes even prevent sight, breathing, hearing and makes movement uncomfortable and sometimes even impossible. Air-borne allergen causes breathing problems as the lungs and the respiratory tract contracts. Entry of allergen through blood is even more severe as blood travels the whole body within 5- 6 minutes. Thus, every organ of the body comes in contact with the allergen immediately and shows elevated reactions.

These allergic responses can sometimes be very severe, so proper care should be taken to avoid the exposure of the body to allergens. Some methods commonly employed to prevent allergic responses are:

1. Avoidance: The best possible way to prevent the attack of allergens is to stay away from them. If you are allergic to some kind of smell or some kind of food, then prefer not to have them. Exposure to dust, mites and pollens can be avoided by covering your nose and mouth with some cloth, where excessive amount of these things is present. This will check the air- borne allergens from entering your body and prevent allergic responses. Air filters and surgical masks can also be used. Also, the amount of allergens in the surroundings can be reduced by increasing the flow of fresh air, free from dust, in the room.
2. Medication: If it becomes difficult to contain an allergy through avoidance, then one can opt for treatment. In this, anti histamines, cromolyn sodium, corticosteroids, decongestants, epinephrine are used. The allergic reactions occurring due to allergens are because of the excessive secretion of histamine in the bloodstream. Anti- histamines are capable of reducing the amount of histamines in the blood and preventing the response of the immune system to the misidentified proteins.
3. Immunotherapy: In case of severe allergic responses, immunotherapy can be done. In this, the allergen is clinically introduced in the body at regular intervals of time in increasingly large amount. This helps in developing immunity against the allergen but it is quite risky and is to be done regularly.

In perfumes and colognes, small amounts of strong smelling substances are used which are responsible for their fragrance.

These small levels of the smelling molecules are harmless and normally, do not generate allergies on exposure. But there are some people who have severe respiratory allergies and even smaller quantities can be a big problem. The most common allergic symptom shown by them is headache. This usually occurs because of reactions due to overwhelming sensory input. They may also face blockage in respiratory tract, problems in breathing, sneezing, watery eyes and can even be life threatening in some acute cases. If these perfumes cause you skin allergies then common symptoms usually noticed are rashes on skin, itching and redness.

To avoid this, the best way is to avoid coming in contact with the allergens. Have a clear idea of what all chemicals you are allergic to and while selecting a fragrance for yourself don’t try anything that contain those chemicals. In case you are not able to avoid it and the allergic symptoms have sprouted up, quickly change your location to control the situation. To prevent skin allergies, you should apply them on your clothes rather than applying directly on your skin. Also, there are some people who are suffering from some special medical conditions like those suffering from autism. They react differently when exposed to fragrances. Thus, special care should be taken as these individuals are extremely sensitive to smells.