Food allergies in adults

As a percentage it is not many adults that are allergic to food – this is because the most common allergic reactions to food are outgrown when they were children. Food allergy is not to be confused with food intolerance as food allergy is the reaction of the body to individual protein contents of the food. The difference between diagnosing a food allergy versus food intolerance is the time limit that the reaction sets in after consuming the food. The allergic reaction will kick in about twenty minutes after eating pr drinking the food where as the reaction related to food intolerance will only be felt about an hour to two hours later. Some of the symptoms are swelling of glands, breathlessness, pain in the abdomen or lightheadedness etc you must immediately rush to the hospital as there is a chance that this might be a life threatening situation.

Adults are usually allergic to shell fish such as crabs and lobsters etc. or to finned fish such as tuna and salmon to name a few.

Other allergies are related to tree nuts such as walnuts, almonds, pistachio’s etc and pea nuts which is actually part of the legume family. There are times that an adult can develop an allergic reaction to food but this is rare – if they have not exhibited the same reaction during childhood. There is still no medical evidence to explain how and why this happens. If you are aware that you have a food allergy then you must be extremely conscientious about the food you consume as even a tiny portion can be life threatening. If you mistakenly ingest the food then you need to immediately need to rush to the hospital as it can get even worse if not treated. If you eat a chocolate or sweet then you should try and take the cover of the box that will have the ingredients listed on the back. This will give the doctor a chance to examine the cause much faster.

You can be responsible and take preventive action by carrying an anti-histamine tablet that is prescribed by your doctor and/ or a syringe containing epinephrine. Practice before so you know you can inject your self accurately if so needed. If you have discovered that you are allergic to one type of nut then you can proactively get your allergist to check whether you have reactions to any of the other nuts in the same family tree as the likelihood of this will be high.

Submitted on March 23, 2011