What is the reaction to food allergy

The essence of food allergy is that the immune system mistakes harmless food proteins entering the body as foreign invaders, triggering an excessive defensive response. The symptoms range from mild to localized itching and swelling, to severe, which can induce shock and threaten life in a few minutes.

Last week, I accompanied my niece, who has allergies, to check for allergens. I happened to meet a high school boy who secretly drank the peanut juice brought by his deskmate. As soon as he walked out of the clinic, his lips swelled up and a dense wheal appeared on his neck. It made him jump. The nurse quickly gave him antihistamines, which slowly subsided after half an hour. This is the most typical mild immediate allergic reaction.

Many people tend to attribute discomfort after eating food to allergies. In fact, there is still some discussion on the definition of this in the academic circle. Currently, most of the typical food allergies are IgE-mediated immediate reactions, which usually occur within half an hour after eating. The "bloating after drinking milk" and "diarrhoea after eating cold food" we usually encounter are mostly due to lactose insufficiency. Tolerance or intolerance caused by food stimulation is not considered a true immune-mediated food allergy. However, many popular science advocates include this kind of slow-onset discomfort in the broad category of allergies to remind everyone to avoid it. Both statements have their own basis. In fact, ordinary people do not need to be too entangled in the definition. As long as you will feel uncomfortable after eating a certain food, it is always right to touch it as little as possible.

Don’t think that allergies are just a rash that you tolerate and then go away. I heard a case from a friend who was allergic to cashew nuts before. A girl who was allergic to cashew nuts didn’t pay attention during a dinner party and ate a cashew nut mixed in the nut plate. Within two minutes, she said that her throat was blocked and she couldn’t breathe. When she was sent to the hospital, her lips were purple. It took a lot of effort to save her. This kind of severe allergic reaction occurs very quickly and does not leave you much time to react. Therefore, doctors now recommend that patients with severe food allergies keep an epinephrine pen with them at all times, just to avoid accidents due to accidental ingestion.

There are also some particularly mild allergic reactions that are easy to ignore. For example, many people feel red and itchy around their mouths when eating peaches. They always think that the peach hairs are not washed and pricked. In fact, most of them are allergic to the protein in the peach skin. If you still have the same reaction after peeling the skin and eating it, you can basically determine that you are allergic. Although there is no big danger, the sausage mouth that swells up every time you eat it will affect your image, right?