High protein food allergy symptoms

There are immediate reactions that occur within minutes to 2 hours after consumption (rashes, swollen lips, and difficulty breathing are the most common), subacute reactions that occur within 2 to 24 hours (mostly abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea), and delayed reactions that appear after 24 hours or even for days or weeks after consumption (repeated acne, inexplicable fatigue, and long-term constipation/diarrhea are all possible). Individual differences vary greatly, and the severity ranges from local itching to anaphylactic shock.

The scene you usually see of "your face turns red immediately after taking a bite of crab and you can't breathe" is a typical instant allergy, which is mediated by IgE immunoglobulin. Clinically, the allergy department classifies this as the category that requires the most vigilance. The attack can be frighteningly fast, and severe cases can cause laryngeal edema and suffocation, which can really kill people. When I was rotating in the clinical nutrition department, I met a mother who brought her 7-year-old child to the emergency department. The child took a bite of salmon given by a relative. Within ten minutes, his eyes were swollen to the point of slits and he could not speak. Fortunately, he brought an epinephrine pen with him and he was sent to the hospital in time so nothing happened.

However, the allergies that most people encounter are not so serious. They often feel uncomfortable after eating a high-protein meal for several hours. For example, after eating a fatty beef sukiyaki meal at noon, they started to suffer from stomachache and diarrhea in the afternoon. Many people's first reaction is that "the ingredients are not fresh" and "the food is too oily", and few people would think that they are allergic to beef protein. Not long ago, a girl who was a sophomore in high school came to me to adjust her diet. She said that every time she drank the local chicken soup stewed by her mother, she got urticaria. She treated it as a common skin disease for half a year and applied a lot of hormone ointments to no avail. After checking for food intolerance, she found out that she was allergic to the sarcoplasmic protein in chicken. After stopping the chicken soup, she never had it again. Oh, by the way, there is another thing that is particularly easy to leak, which is the allergy to lean pork protein. I once met an uncle who had eaten pork all his life and was fine. After he was fifty years old, he suddenly developed swollen lips and diarrhea when he ate it. It took a long time to find out the cause. To put it bluntly, the immune system suddenly "turned away" and treated the proteins that it usually tolerates as foreign invaders. This is not uncommon.

What is more subtle is the delayed reaction. You may not believe it. I have seen a young man who works out. In order to build muscle, he ate 6 eggs + two spoons of whey protein every day for three weeks. The cysts and acne on his face could not go away, and he had diarrhea every day. At first, he thought it was gastroenteritis. I took a lot of antibiotics to no avail. I stopped eggs and protein powder for ten days. The acne disappeared and the stomach ache stopped. I went to check whether it was a delayed allergy to whey protein and ovalbumin. This kind of non-IgE-mediated reaction is still controversial in nutrition circles and allergy departments. Many doctors in the allergy department do not admit that it is an "allergy" and think that it is at most a food intolerance without clear immune indicators to support it. ； However, many cohort studies have been conducted in the nutrition field, and the triggering of this type of chronic reaction is indeed clearly related to the intake of specific proteins. However, the onset is too slow, and there are too many other diet and life factors in between, so it is difficult for ordinary people to associate it together.

Nowadays, there is a popular saying on the Internet that "high protein allergy can be desensitized by slowly increasing the dosage." The opinions of both sides are also very quarrelsome. Most doctors in the allergy department are firmly opposed to trying it at home, especially for people with immediate allergies. If you increase the dosage and fail to control it well, triggering anaphylactic shock, it will be too late to save you. ； However, there are indeed clinical cases of small-dose gradual tolerance in the nutritional field. For example, children with mild allergies to eggs can slowly add 1/16 egg yolks, strictly monitor body reactions, and persist for more than six months. More than 60% of children can slowly build tolerance. However, this premise must be followed by professionals throughout the process. Trying blindly at home is simply a gamble with your life.

I have been a dietary guide for so many years, and I have seen too many people treating high protein allergies as other problems. There are also people who label themselves as "protein allergies" when they have a little diarrhea. In fact, many times you just eat too much at one time and your stomach cannot digest it. For example, drink 3 spoons of protein powder at a time. Not to mention people with weak stomachs, normal people may have flatulence and diarrhea, and it is not a cause of allergies at all. If you really suspect that you have a problem, don’t blindly search for symptoms to find out what the problem is. Go for a joint allergen + food intolerance test, which is much more reliable than asking netizens online.

After all, everyone has a unique immune system. If someone else eats shrimp that is fine, you may end up in the hospital. If someone else drinks milk that helps you grow taller, you may get acne. Knowing your own body's threshold is better than anything else.