Food Allergy: What Can You Do?
More and more people are suffering from food allergies. However, this does not mean that those affected have to do without all food. Here we give you tips on how to live well with your food allergy and enjoy your food.
A food allergy is usually responsible if you develop symptoms such as skin reactions, runny nose, asthma, abdominal pain or diarrhea after eating . Similar to other allergies, the body’s immune system reacts to actually harmless ingredients in the food. However, the term should not be equated with that of food intolerance , also known as intolerance. Although people with an intolerance will not eat the food, the reaction is not caused by an allergy. Rather, those affected lack certain enzymes to process the food.
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Common food allergy triggers include dairy products, eggs, nuts, fish and shellfish. A food allergy can also be triggered by another allergy, for example by a so-called cross-allergy. Eating peppers, apples or pineapples can trigger allergy symptoms in people suffering from hay fever. The same applies to a latex allergy if the food has come into contact with latex gloves during processing.
How is a food allergy diagnosed?
If you suspect a food allergy, you should consult a doctor. He will examine you after an initial conversation and then carry out an allergy test. In these tests, you are exposed to the allergy-causing substances to see if you react to them. But a blood test can also show the doctor whether certain antibodies are present in your blood. Another option is the oral provocation test. In the first phase, the “suspicious food” is removed from the menu. If the symptoms improve, contact with the food follows again in the provocation phase. If you then react to it again with symptoms, that is a clear sign of an allergy.
Treatment of a food allergy
Basically, if you have a food allergy, you should avoid products that trigger the symptoms. But that’s not so easy, because finished products in particular contain many traces of allergy-causing ingredients. For this reason, you should take a close look at the ingredient list of the food. Some allergies can also be treated with medication. However, the drugs only alleviate the symptoms for a short time, the course of the disease is not influenced in the long term.
Food allergy tips
You can live quite well with a food allergy if you stick to a few rules. So you don’t have to be overly cautious because of your allergy, otherwise you might be avoiding more foods than necessary. Below we have put together a few tips that will certainly make your life easier:
- Numerous types of fruit and vegetables become more digestible for allergy sufferers when heated. For example, cooking carrots, apples, pears, peaches and apricots kills some allergenic substances. As a rule, fruit puree, jam, boiled fruit and cakes in which the fruit was also baked are compatible.
- It is often sufficient for apples if you peel them and cut them into small pieces. There are also varieties that are more tolerable for apple lovers, such as Boskoop, Jamba, Altländer and Gloster.
- You should be careful with other foods because they are heat-resistant. Nuts, celery, mustard seeds, milk protein, fish and soy are often of concern even after cooking, roasting and baking.
- People with a soy allergy can often tolerate fermented soy products.
- If you are allergic to chocolate, you can easily substitute it. All you have to do is heat some cocoa or coconut butter in a water bath and mix it with untreated cocoa powder, vanilla and powdered sugar – the homemade chocolate variant is ready.
- Ideally, you should avoid industrially manufactured finished products.
- As a person affected by lactose intolerance , you should be careful with foods made from sheep’s or goat’s milk. Make sure you are not allergic to these milk proteins as well.
- Many people who are lactose intolerant can tolerate small amounts of processed products such as butter, cream and yogurt.
- People who are allergic to chicken protein may also have to avoid eggs from other birds. Some people with a chicken protein allergy can tolerate a small amount of hard-boiled eggs.
- Be sure to let your doctor know if you have a chicken protein allergy, as some medications contain this protein.
- There are fish allergy sufferers who tolerate a freshwater fish better than a saltwater fish. Whether this also applies to you, you should only have it clarified by a doctor.