Food Allergies Essay

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A food allergy is what occurs when the body’s immune system mistakes a food item for a threat to it and causes the allergic reaction to occur. When an allergic reaction to a food occurs the body produces large amounts of immunoglobulin E or IgE for short. When this antibody is produced it releases chemicals into the body that cause the symptoms of an allergic reaction to attempt to fight the threat. Food allergies differ from food intolerances because of this antibody. Intolerance will cause similar symptoms but does not affect the immune system. Food allergies are something that affect up to 15 million people just in the United States. One in thirteen children have some sort of food allergy. Any type of food can cause an allergic reaction but there are eight that are the most common and make up ninety percent of all food allergies in the United States. These foods are peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, wheat, soy, fish, and shellfish. Peanut allergies are the most common of these. Peanut allergies seem to last for life but children do sometimes outgrow them. On the other hand peanut allergies are in the rise in children based on recent studies. The number of children who have them has more than tripled in the last twenty years. There are many different symptoms of an allergic reaction to a food. The skin, the gastrointestinal tract, the respiratory tract, and in severe cases the cardiovascular tract can also be affected. The reactions vary from person to person and can be very mild or very severe. The reaction could occur anytime from only a few minutes after eating the food to up to several hours later. Some of the more mild symptoms of an allergic reaction could be hives, eczema, redness of the skin, itchy mouth or ear canal, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, nasal congestion, a runny nose, sneezing, a dry cough, an odd taste in mouth, or uterine

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