With more than 17,000,000 people in Europe
and 4% of the adult American population suffering from their horrid effects,
food allergens are a bit of a big deal.
Over 200,000 visits to A&E are made
annually in the States alone, and hospital admissions caused by severe allergic
reactions have increased sevenfold in the past ten years. There are 46
recognised allergens that are regularly tested, a handful of those most
responsible for 90% of all food reactions are peanuts, wheat, milk, eggs and
shellfish.
The risk of developing a food allergy
heightens if you have a parent that suffers from an allergy-based disease, such
as eczema, asthma or even hay fever.
So what’s what?
A food allergy is generated by your immune
system, whereas a food intolerance isn’t. Either way, a reaction can take place
within minutes of you eating something that your body doesn’t agree with.
When you eat a food allergen, your intestinal
lining becomes inflamed due to irritation. Your ability to absorb nutrients
effectively is reduced significantly, and if your nutrients aren’t absorbed
properly, your body can’t be nourished properly and as a result your body finds
it difficult to heal and repair itself.
Particles of the food that is unable to be
digested leaks through the intestinal wall and enters your systemic
circulation. When this happens, the real reaction begins. By escaping your
digestive tract and invading new territory, your immune fighters (white blood
cells, macrophages, lymphocytes) get confused and are incapable of identifying
the food particles from the bad bacteria and microbes that the fighters are out
to obliterate. As a result, they’re destroyed and a reaction is well and truly
headed your way – poor you! :(
If you’re unlucky enough to have been
diagnosed with Coeliac disease, it’s a whole new kettle of fish. Coeliac is an
autoimmune disease, and those effected must follow a meticulous gluten-free
diet, as gluten triggers the production of antibodies, which then attack your
own cells rather than the horrid microbes that they should be fighting, and
this in turn causes damage to your gut.
With this is mind – whatever your situation –
learn about your allergies, because knowledge is power, and that power is on
its way to kick those allergens’ arses!
