What are food allergies?
Food allergies often manifest their outward and inward manifestations due to ingesting of some types of food that can possibly be deemed as detrimental to the welfare of the human body. For the most part these disorders trigger the body's immune system to produce antibodies, which happen to be its natural guards against anything detrimental matter found in it. These antibodies react by stimulating the body to produce chemicals such as histamine to counteract the effects of food allergens (the substance of food in the food ingested, or even touched). Such chemicals are often the culprits behind every untoward manifestations of ingesting foods that cause allergies.
Food allergies are notably widespread among the younger generation, and according to statistics gathered by the US's food and drug administration (FDA) approximately 6% of children below the age of 3 in that specific country are struggling with food allergies. This same situation is significantly lower with grown ups.
There is, however, a silver lining to this cloud of shocking statistics in that most of these children usually outgrow these eating disorders. For instance it is noted that out of all children that are allergic to milk, 80% of them shake off this disorder when they grow up. While 2/3 of those who can't eat eggs, and 80% of those who can't partake of wheat or soy foods normally outgrow these allergies by the time they reach 5 years.
On the other hand, allergies to foodstuffs like some type of nuts such as peanuts, are remarkably hard to shake off, with only 20% of such children being able to outgrow them. Additionally, allergies from fish or other marine food are notably known to manifest themselves at later years of these kid's lives.
One important thing to remember is that food allergies develop with a wide range of symptoms, which often vary from one person to the other. Some of these are notably mild; affecting on part of the body, while others extremely severe, and affect more than one part.
Should such persons continue to partake of the allergy-causing meals, the body moves a step further, and starts to produce detrimental chemicals such as histamine to cope with seemingly untoward intrusion. This in effect makes the body exhibit the symptoms that are often attributed to such ailments. These include skin rashes, running noses, body swellings, abdominal discomforts, and a host of many others.
On the other hand, most people confuse such kinds of allergies to the milder food intolerance, as they often manifest similar symptoms, which include indigestion, migraines, burping or even loose stools. This, however, is not the case as food intolerance doesn't have any effect on the immune system, and is consequently, seldom as perilous as food allergies, which can actually cause death.
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