Food allergy
Overview
A food allergy is where your body reacts to certain foods. It's often mild, but can be very serious for some people.
Symptoms
Symptoms of a food allergy can affect any part of the body, including different parts of the body at the same time. Common symptoms of a food allergy include: feeling dizzy or lightheadeditchy skin or a raised rash (hives)swelling of the lips, face and eyes (angioedema)coughing, wheezing, breathlessness, noisy breathing or a hoarse voicesneezing or an itchy, runny or blocked nosefeeling sick or being sicktummy paindiarrhoea You may get symptoms straight after eating the food you're allergic to, or days later.
Causes
A food allergy is caused by your immune system overreacting to certain types of food. It's not clear why this happens, but certain foods are more likely to cause an allergic reaction in some people. The most common allergic foods include: cows' milkeggspeanuts, soybeans, peas and chickpeastree nuts, such as walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews, pistachios and Brazil nutsshellfish, such as prawns, crab and lobsterwheat But you can be allergic to any type of food, including celery, mustard, sesame seeds and lupin flour found in some baked goods. You have a slightly higher chance of getting a food allergy if you or a close family member have other allergies, asthma or eczema.
Treatment
If you have a food allergy, you will not be able to eat the food you're allergic to, including foods where you're allergic to any of the ingredients. You'll be given medicines to help manage your symptoms or use in case of an emergency. These include: antihistamines for mild allergic reactionsemergency medicines called adrenaline auto-injectors, such as an EpiPen, for severe allergic reactions Your specialist will give you an allergy management plan that will explain how to manage your allergy. Children with a peanut allergy may have immunotherapy to help their bodies become less sensitive to peanuts, but they should still avoid eating peanuts.