Food allergies are a rising public health concern, affecting more than 50 million Americans. This condition can greatly interfere in family habits and school routines since they mostly develop in childhood. Here are five important facts to help you understand and prevent serious allergic reactions to certain foods.

1. Food Allergy vs. Food Intolerance

Food allergy and food intolerance are often used to describe the same problem, but they are two very different things. Allergy is an immune reaction from your body’s defense system caused by an exposure to a particular substance. Intolerance is when your digestive system is not able to properly process certain sugars or other substances. For example, if you are lactose intolerant, then lactose-free milk will suit you well. But if you are allergic to milk, you should refrain from having even lactose-free milk. According to Natacha Borrajo, a licensed and registered dietitian with Baptist Health Primary Care: “A food intolerance is going to be a little bit mild in nature, so maybe some (gastrointestinal) discomfort, maybe constipation, diarrhea. A food allergy can be much more intense … up to anaphylactic shock. So it could be respiratory distress, swelling of the airways…”

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[Transcript]

[Food Allergies: Top 5 Facts You Need To Know]
[Natacha Borrajo,⁣Licensed And Registered Dietitian,⁣Baptist Health Primary Care]
Natacha:
The major difference I would say between a food allergy and a food intolerance is, a food intolerance is going to be a little bit milder in nature. So maybe some GI discomfort, maybe constipation, diarrhea. Whereas a food allergy can be much more intense, up to anaphylactic shock. So it could be respiratory distress, swelling of the airways, that kind of thing.

So there are eight most common food allergies. They happen to be milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat, seafood, and fish. If you are the parent of a young child, the first time parent let's say, and there's a history of food allergies, the new guidelines, particularly research done with peanuts.

It shows that if you can introduce the food under the guidance of your pediatrician or an allergist within four to six months of childhood, you could actually resolve that food allergy earlier in life, or at least develop a tolerance to the food into adulthood.

If you want to know if a food allergy has resolved into adulthood, you want to under the guidance of your physician, do a food challenge. And basically, it's taking a small portion of that food that you're allergic to and testing to see if your symptoms, or your signs and your symptoms are mild or severe. From there, you can gauge if you've developed a tolerance to that food you were once allergic to.

So if you are allergic to a food, you want to take certain measures to make sure that you can avoid that food. There is no cure for a food allergy. There's only preventative measures we can take. So you want to read your food labels, you want to become familiar, maybe visit a dietitian so you can learn how to do so. You want to meal prep without cross contaminating with the allergic food.

When you go out to restaurants, tell your server, I'm allergic to this, please let the chef know in the back, make sure that everyone knows that you are allergic to a food.

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