Food Allergies

Food allergies are common, potentially serious and are becoming even more common. About 4 children in every 100 have a food allergy with 90% of the symptoms caused by the following 8 foods milk, eggs, wheat, soy, fish, shellfish, peanuts and tree nuts like Walnuts and Brazils.

It’s the under fives who experience most allergies and I had my first allergic experience at 3 or 4 years old when I had a drink with egg and milk in it. I felt OK but my lips started swelling very rapidly and noticeably. No harm done but pretty scary.

Asthma is a frequent problem amongst “allergy kids” too with 29% of children with food allergies having asthma and 27% having eczema or skin allergy.

To read more information on particular food allergies see these articles and feel free to comment and share your experience too.

Dairy foods are a central item in most people’s diet so an allergy to dairy foods hits home hard… Allergic to Dairy Foods.

Bread is another staple and homely food and often causes allergic symptoms. But is the allergy to bread or to the type of wheat used; the yeast used in bread making or to the gluten? This can be tricky to sort out and sometimes you just have to avoid bread altogether if the puzzle can’t be solved.

Wheat food allergy

Yeast Food Allergy,

Gluten Food Allergy or Intolerance

Peanuts, also known as Groundnuts since they grow underground are a technically nutritious food but produces allergies in many. Peanuts and other nuts are included in many packaged foods and in very sensitive people can cause serious and even a fatal allergic reaction called anaphylaxis.

Read some more about Peanut food allergy here.