Allergenic foods

As long as it is a food that triggers your immune system to produce an abnormal overresponse after exposure, leading to reactions such as rash, respiratory edema, vomiting and even anaphylactic shock, it is an allergic food to you, but it may be a delicious food for others to eat casually every day.

When I was following up in the allergy department, I met a 5-year-old boy who took a bite of dried mango handed to him by a classmate. Within ten minutes, his mouth swelled into a small sausage, and even his eyes were red and swollen. However, his mother sat beside him and chewed a big mango and told us that she had eaten mangoes for more than 20 years and had never had any problems.

If you want to say that mango is an allergenic food, most people will be fine if they hold it and chew it. But if you want to say that it is not, then the little boy who touches even a little bit will have to be prescribed anti-allergy medicine in the emergency department.

Therefore, the "highly allergenic food list" circulating on the Internet is not groundless. In the early years, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations counted eight categories that accounted for more than 90% of global food allergy cases: milk, eggs, fish, crustaceans, peanuts, soybeans, nuts, and wheat. Allergen warnings of these ingredients are now specifically marked on regular food packaging. But this is only a statistically high-risk category. It definitely does not mean that these foods are inherently "allergenic foods", nor does it mean that everyone will be allergic to them.

Moreover, regarding the logic of responding to food allergies, the views of the academic community have actually changed quite a lot in recent years. Twenty years ago, both clinical guidelines and popular parenting science unanimously stated that children at risk of allergies should introduce these highly allergenic foods later, and it was best not to touch them during pregnancy to avoid inducing allergies in children. However, the latest complementary food guidelines for children in Europe, the United States and my country have long been changed. As long as the family does not have a history of severe anaphylactic shock, when children are 4-6 months old and adding complementary foods, they can try a small amount of foods such as diluted peanut butter and steamed egg yolks. On the contrary, it is easier to induce immune tolerance and reduce the probability of allergies when they grow up. I met a parent before who followed the old concept and gave his child strict dietary restrictions until he was 3 years old. As a result, eating eggs for the first time directly caused allergic asthma and sent him to the hospital. Instead, he missed the golden period of building tolerance.

There is also a topic that has been debated for many years: Are the "hair products" mentioned in Chinese medicine the same foods that are allergic to? In fact, the two overlap, but they cannot be equated. For example, many people will develop red rashes after eating beef, mutton, and seafood, which is consistent with the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine that "eating substances" induce old diseases, and is also consistent with the manifestations of food allergies in modern medicine. However, some people develop ulcers after eating lychees, and suffer from bloating and indigestion after eating glutinous rice. These are all "fat reactions" in traditional understanding, but the essence is fructose intolerance or weak digestive function, which is completely different from an immune-mediated food allergy. There is no need to beat people to death and say that food is feudal dross, and there is no need to attribute all discomfort after eating to food allergies.

To be honest, when I receive consultations, I am most afraid of encountering people who ask, "I am allergic recently, so I can't eat eggs, milk, and seafood." They haven't even checked what their allergens are. If you really suspect that you have a food allergy, you should first do a serum-specific IgE test. If necessary, combine it with a food challenge test to accurately locate the allergen and then avoid it. This is much more reliable than blindly restricting foods.

Oh, by the way, there are some allergies that are so weird that you wouldn’t expect them. I’ve read before that some people are allergic to the peach hairs on the surface of peaches, some are allergic to cantaloupe, and some are only allergic to boiled corn or roasted corn and are fine. These are not on the 8 categories of high-allergen lists, but for the person involved, they are real allergic foods.

To put it bluntly, there is never a universal standard answer to the judgment of "food allergy", and it is only valid for specific people. The delicious food that others eat may be a dangerous item that will go to the emergency room on you. If you feel uncomfortable after eating, don’t bear it. It’s better to find out.