Monday, September 15, 2008

I'm An Adult With A Food Allergy

By Dorothy Medlum


A food allergy can develop at any time in a person's life. So, yes, it's possible for adults to develop food allergies. It's not clear why or how this is done.

Although they occur most often in infants and children, food allergies can appear at any age and can be caused by foods that had been previously eaten and enjoyed without any problems. Excessive exposure to a particular food such as fish by Scandinavians or rice among the Japanese may cause the allergy to be more prevalent.

The prime reason some people have allergies and others don't deals with the matter of heredity. We are products of our parents, so in that gene pool, if our parents had allergies on both sides of the family, chances are we will have allergies too. If our relatives had allergies, we still have a good chance of having them passed on to us.

Once the diagnosis of a food allergy is confirmed, the most effective treatment is not eating the offending food in any form. The patient must be vigilant in checking labels on food products and learning other names of identification of the responsible food or food additive to make sure it is not present.

If you are eating in a restaurant, be particularly aware and take emergency medications with you if you have a history of severe attacks. Waiters aren't always knowledgeable about the ingredients of each thing listed on the menu.

In many cases of adult food allergies, an elimination diet appears to promote the process of outgrowing the food allergy, but this must be done with strict adherence. The vast majority of people with documented allergic reactions to eggs, cow's milk, and soy eventually become tolerant to these foods. Allergies to peanuts, fish, tree nuts and shellfish, however lasts a lifetime and are not outgrown.

Overall, approximately one-third of children and adults will eventually be free of their allergic reactions to foods after rigorously following appropriate diets free of the offending food allergens.

After six months of being free from those foods that created your allergic reactions, your doctor may recommend that you undergo an oral food challenge under close observation to reassess your allergy symptoms. If you don't have a reaction, then you will be able to reintroduce the food into your diet. If any symptoms do occur, the dietary restriction should remain in tact.

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