Food Allergy Symptoms

Foods that cause allergy include peanuts, shellfish, tree nuts and fish. Some children develop allergies to cow’s milk, soya, eggs, wheat and seafood. If you have an allergy to a particular food, you could also have a reaction to other allergy-causing food. This is called cross-reactivity. Your dietician and physician could help you identify which foods to avoid and prevent allergic reactions. If you are still unsure if you have a food allergy, you should consult a doctor specializing on allergies. You would be asked questions pertaining to the symptoms you experience after eating a certain food, amount of the particular food you ate, preparation and storage of the food, medication you took to relieve the symptoms and effectivity of the medication. All these can help diagnose your food allergy. It is very important that you see a food allergy specialist. You must never, under any circumstances, try to determine the food you are allergic to on your own. You must remember that allergic reactions can be severe and you might be putting yourself in a very dangerous situation. If you’re allergic to something and you tamper with it, your body can react in bad ways.

Skin prick tests are sometimes used to diagnose a food allergy. A small amount of food extract is injected on the skin surface. An allergic reaction to that food extract will result to swelling and redness of the injection site. Sometimes, a false positive reaction is observed from a skin prick test. It would be wise to perform other tests, like a blood test for instance, to confirm food allergy and complete diagnosis.