Food allergies can lead to edema, hives and difficulty to swallow and breathe, and ultimately, these symptoms could trigger an episode of anaphylaxis, which could be fatal for a patient.
It’s a phenomenon in continuous evolution. The increasing prevalence of food allergies, regarding the number of foods involved and the severity of the reactions is a warning sign since it affects more and more people. In Spain, it’s estimated that more than two million people have a food allergy and it’s a problem that affects particularly children.
Allergies are increasing
“The theories to explain this increase differ, but the repeated notions are lifestyle and genetic influence, although the changes have occurred in such a short period and genes don’t act so fast. Diet also plays an important role: we eat more processed foods and animal-based saturated fats, and less fruits and vegetables. All this harms the gut microbiota or intestinal flora,” Dr. Mónica Antón explained, chair of the Spanish Society of Clinical Allergology and Immunology (SEAIC) Food Allergy Committee.
In the case of Spain, and talking about childhood, there are a number of foods that cover the largest number of cases. “The most frequent food allergy among children under five years old is caused by milk and eggs, while among children older than five, it’s fresh fruits and nuts as well as crustaceans. Among fresh fruits, the rosaceae are also the most reaction-inducing ones, being peaches on top of the list. Melons, watermelons and bananas often induce reactions, especially in those allergic to grass pollen,” Dr. Ángel Ferrer, allergist at Quirónsalud Alicante, explained.
Intolerance vs. allergy
Sometimes it’s possible to mistake intolerance for allergy although they have nothing to do with each other. “While intolerance is caused by alterations in digestion or food metabolism and its symptoms typically involve only abdominal swelling, gas and nausea; allergies on the other hand, put our immune system at stake producing antibodies against that type of food causing serious conditions that can lead to edema, hives and difficulty to swallow and breathe. These symptoms could cause, in turn, an anaphylaxis episode and endanger the patient’s life,” Ferrer said.
Some recommendations regarding food allergies
- The most effective treatment for food allergies is to completely cut the food that causes them from the patient’s diet
- It’s important to monitor the composition of food in order to avoid exposure to declared and hidden allergens in many processed foods.
- It’s worthwhile to pay attention to food labels and to know the composition of any foods eaten away from home.
Treatment innovations
Oral desensitizers manage to transform, in some cases, an allergy into tolerance to consume small amounts of food such as milk, eggs and peanuts, which are part of many processed foods.
The use of vaccines and immunotherapy used for peach and rosaceae fruit allergy is also increasingly common, allowing patients to tolerate food.
Non-specific immunomodulatory treatments have also been tested with the administration of antibodies, which has also been proven effective to raise the tolerance threshold to some foods.
Date: September 20th, 2019
By: Álvaro Piqueras
Link: https://as.com/deporteyvida/2019/09/20/portada/1568960663_217265.html
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