What is food allergy

It was a resident friend who came to deliver express delivery, but the security guard mistook him for a thief who broke in, and shouted and surrounded him, causing the whole community to panic. Those symptoms of "chicken-to-wheel" are the common symptoms we see: rash, swollen mouth, vomiting, diarrhea, and in severe cases, difficulty breathing and anaphylactic shock.

Last year, I met a 20-year-old girl who ate fresh durian for the first time. After three bites, her mouth swelled into a sausage. She also had wheezes all over her body and couldn't breathe. She was taken to the emergency room and given epinephrine before she recovered. This is the most typical IgE-mediated immediate food allergy, with rapid onset and high risk. However, not all food allergies have such an acute onset. There is also a type of non-IgE-mediated allergy, which may take several hours or even a day or two to react after eating the suspicious food. For example, some babies have repeated diarrhea and bloody stools after drinking ordinary formula milk. No other reasons can be found. It is likely that this type of delayed-type milk protein allergy is not easy to think of the allergy at the first time, and it is easy to miss diagnosis.

Many people tend to confuse food allergies and food intolerances. The most common one is diarrhea after drinking milk. Nine times out of ten, it is lactose intolerance - the body lacks the enzyme to break down lactose and cannot digest the lactose in milk.

When it comes to the diagnosis of food allergy, there is still a lot of poor understanding in the industry. In the past two years, many institutions promoted the food-specific IgG test, saying that a positive result means that you are allergic and should avoid eating. In fact, the clinical significance of this indicator is still controversial in the academic community: some primary medical institutions will use positive IgG as a basis for dietary avoidance. However, the mainstream view of allergy departments in domestic tertiary hospitals is that IgG can only indicate that the body has been exposed to this food and cannot be directly equivalent to allergy. To confirm the diagnosis, it is reliable to combine the disease history, skin prick test, specific IgE test, and if necessary, an oral food challenge test. A 3-year-old boy who had been followed up before was found to be positive for eggs, wheat, and milk during an IgG test in the community. His parents banned the food for almost a year. The boy grew smaller than his peers. Later, he went to a higher-level hospital for a provocation test and found that he could eat all three normally. The previous taboos were completely unnecessary and had in vain delayed the child's growth.

The prevalence of food allergies is indeed increasing around the world, especially among children. If you really suspect that you or your family members have food allergies, don't make blind guesses or do random online celebrity testing. It is most reliable to seek an evaluation from the allergy department of a regular hospital. If you are really diagnosed, remember your allergens and strictly avoid them. Don't be too anxious.