Food Allergies
Food Allergies
Food allergies are a serious and potentially life-threatening condition that are on the rise in America. An allergic reaction to a food occurs when your immune system reacts inappropriately to a particular food.
Top 8 Food Allergens in the United States
- Milk
Egg
Wheat
Soybean
Peanuts
Tree Nuts
Fish
Shelfish
Understanding the Difference Between Food Sensitivity and Food Allergy
Many people use the terms “food sensitivity” and “food allergy” interchangeably, but they actually refer to different immune responses the body has to certain foods. It’s important to distinguish between the two, as they can have different symptoms, mechanisms, and implications for treatment.
Food Sensitivity
Food sensitivity, also known as food intolerance, is a non-allergic adverse reaction to certain foods or components in foods. Unlike food allergies, food sensitivities do not involve the immune system. Instead, they typically arise from difficulties digesting specific foods or components.
Common symptoms of food sensitivity may include bloating, gas, stomach cramps, diarrhea, and general discomfort. These symptoms often occur hours or even days after consuming the problematic food.
Food sensitivities can be caused by various factors, including enzyme deficiencies (such as lactose intolerance), sensitivity to food additives, or reactions to naturally occurring compounds in foods (like histamine in aged cheeses or tyramine in fermented foods).
Identifying food sensitivities often involves keeping a food diary and eliminating suspected trigger foods from the diet to see if symptoms improve.
Food Allergy
Food allergies, on the other hand, involve the immune system reacting to specific proteins in certain foods. When someone with a food allergy consumes the allergenic food, their immune system mistakenly identifies the protein as harmful and launches an immune response, which can range from mild to severe.
Symptoms of a food allergy can include hives, itching, swelling, difficulty breathing, wheezing, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and even anaphylaxis—a severe, life-threatening reaction that requires immediate medical attention.
Dr. Rajan is adept at diagnosing food allergies however we do not offer any testing for food sensitivities or food intolerances.
Testing and Treatment
Dr. Rajan will take a history and find out what kinds of symptoms you have had with eating particular foods. She will then perform testing via either skin or blood (or both) and determine whether a food allergy is truly the cause of your symptoms. In some situations, the test results suggest that someone may have outgrown their food allergy. In that case we will perform a procedure called an oral challenge on a separate day. An oral challenge is where a patient is fed a full serving size portion of the food over the course of a half-day and they are monitored for symptoms. This is considered the gold standard in the diagnosis of food allergies.
If the testing shows that you likely still have the food allergy present, an oral challenge is not performed. Instead, Dr. Rajan may recommend a treatment called oral immunotherapy. Oral immunotherapy is a way to change your immune system so that you are able to tolerate the food. The goal of the treatment is to be able to protect yourself from cross-contamination, accidental ingestion and most are able to freely eat the food after they complete the treatment.