The Basic of Food Allergy

It is estimated that more than 12 millions of American are having food allergy. About 4 percent of adults are having this disease and nearly 6 to 9 percent children under the age of 3 are having the same illness. The prevalence of food allergy is rising, where the most common food allergy in kids are caused by milk, eggs, peanuts and tree nuts. In adults, the most common allergic reaction are triggered by peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, fish and eggs.

Basically, allergic reaction known as “food allergy” symptoms are caused by active chemical developed by our body immune system. It is a normal reaction as an body attempt to protect our system from foreign subtracts. This protection is by default as one mechanism to defend us from disease caused by microorganism like bacteria and virus. Nevertheless, it is the duty of immune system of an allergic (atopic) person attempts to protect the body not only from potential pathogens but also from harmless substances such as dust mites, pollens, mold spores, animal dander, and food.

But then why some foreign protein subtract do not cause our immune system to over reacted, while others recognizes the same material as innocuous object? This question has been a puzzle among allergy and immune researchers. Although we do not know the difference yet, researches is beginning to expose some of the answers. The difference lies down right at the starting out of the process of identification of what may be harmful and what is safe to the body.

Food are having no capability of causing any disease like bacteria, virus and can cell can do. So we can not blame the food that cause allergic reaction to our body. Actually, it is the response of body system to some food components which leads to allergic reaction symptoms that widely known food sensitivity, fool intolerance, or food allergy. Another more recent idioms for this term is “adverse reactions to food”.

There are some factors that may explain why body responses to food in one children are developing distressing symptoms lead to food allergy while on others kids eating the same food are not causing any allergic reactions:

1. Condition where the child first contacted or encountered the food
2. Genetic factor or inheritance factor
3. Microorganisms that live within a child’s digestive tract
4. Some medical treatment or medicine that have been taken by the child (directly) or through mother’s breast milk (indirectly)
5. Some other relevant factors that yet need to be exposed

Food sensitivity is unlike any other disease entity. It has numerous different causes, since any food is capable of activating an allergic reaction in a child who lacks the systems required to process it adequately when it enters the body, or in child who has been sensitized before. The same food may be absolutely safe for other children. Moreover, food sensitivity and food can result in many different symptoms in diverse organ systems.

The common medical model of disease that your doctor commonly follows has several steps that extend from symptoms to therapy:

• The symptoms or presentation propose some possibilities as to their cause.
• Tests are accomplished that will lead to a diagnosis.
• The diagnosis reached as a effect of the tests influences the treatment.
• Treatment usually comprises of medications and/or surgery.
• As a result of treatment (therapy) the symptoms are alleviated.

This protocol brings extremely well for conditions that are caused by a single entity such as a bacterium, virus, cancer, injury, or other agents that cause harm to the body. It does not work well for food allergy, where there are numerous dissimilar agents responsible for triggering a response of the immune system, which results in a various array of symptoms that different for everyone, and even within the same person at different times.

In practical application is that, as there are a number of different cognitive process that can occur when body systems deal with the diverse chemicals that make up a food, it would be impossible to await that the specific food sensitivity responsible for triggering the body’s adverse reaction could be identified by any single laboratory test. Consequently, even a clear definition of the term “food allergy” using symptoms, causative factors, physiological processes, or diagnostic tests (which are the usual ways we define a disease) has always eluded clinicians and scientists.

Recently, it has become more common for all adverse reactions that as a result from eating to be named food allergy. Even though in scientific fields and medical area, there are several pre defined conditions within this broad category that indicate the probable mechanism of the reaction that is taking place within the body. These defined circumstances help in finding out the potential cause of the symptoms, anticipating the probable severity and duration of the reaction, and suggesting the most appropriate treatment.