Food Allergies

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These foods cause the most food allergies:

peanuts and other nuts, seafood, such as shrimp, milk, particularly cow's milk, eggs,soy,wheat

What Is a Food Allergy?

Food allergies occur when your immune system makes a mistake. Normally, your immune (say: ih-myoon) system protects you from germs and disease. It does this by making antibodies that help you fight off bacteria, viruses, and other tiny organisms that can make you sick. But if you have a food allergy, your immune system mistakenly treats something in a certain food as if it's really dangerous to you.
The same sort of thing happens with any allergy, whether it's a medicine (like penicillin), pollen in the air (from flowers and trees), or a food, like peanuts. So the thing itself isn't harmful, but the way your body reacts to it is.

If a kid with peanut allergy would have eaten that peanut-topped brownie, here's what would happen. Antibodies to something in the food would cause mastcells (a type of immune system cell in the body) to release chemicals into the bloodstream. One of these chemicals is histamine.

What's a Reaction Like?

The histamine then causes symptoms that affect a person's eyes, nose, throat, respiratory system, skin, and digestive system. A person with a food allergy could have a mild reaction — or it could be more severe. An allergic reaction could happen right away or a few hours after the person eats it. Some of the first signs that a person may be having an allergic reaction could be a runny nose, an itchy skin rash such as hives, or a tingling in the tongue or lips.

tightness in the throat, hoarse voice,wheezing, cough, nausea,vomiting,stomach pain, diarrhea

In the most serious cases, a food allergy can cause anaphylaxis (say: ah-nuh-fuh-lak-sis). This is a sudden, severe allergic reaction in which several problems occur all at once and can involve the skin, breathing, digestion, the heart, and blood vessels. A person's blood pressure can drop, breathing tubes can narrow, and the tongue can swell.

People at risk for this kind of a reaction have to be very careful and need a plan for handling emergencies, when they might need to get special medicine to stop these symptoms from getting worse.

Many kids outgrow allergies to milk and eggs as they grow older. But severe allergies to foods like peanuts, certain kinds of fish, and shrimp often last a lifetime.

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What Is an Egg Allergy?

You probably know that some people are allergic to certain foods, like peanuts or shrimp. When a person has a food allergy, his or her body responds as if the food is a dangerous substance. This can happen to a little kid who eats eggs because his or her immune system isn't fully developed and can't handle the protein in eggs. (Most children who are allergic to eggs are allergic to the protein that's in the egg whites, but some react to the protein in the yolk.)

The immune system, which normally protects against germs and other problems, uses antibodies to fight the egg protein like it's a harmful invader. A baby who is allergic to eggs might feel sick or get a rash after eating eggs or any food containing eggs. The reaction could happen fast or it might take a few hours.
Signs and Symptoms

Here are symptoms someone might have due to an egg allergy:

* skin: hives, eczema, flushing, or swelling
* digestive system: belly pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, or itching around the mouth
* respiratory system: runny nose, wheezing, or difficulty breathing
* cardiovascular system: rapid heartbeat, low blood pressure, or heart problems

In rare cases, a person could have a very serious allergic reaction, which can cause anaphylaxis (say: an-uh-fih-lak-sis). Immediate medical attention is needed because the person may have breathing problems and a drop in blood pressure.

Anaphylaxis is treated with a medicine called epinephrine (say: ep-uh-nef-rin), which is given by injection (a shot). Kids who have a severe egg allergy will usually carry — or have a grown-up carry — an epinephrine injection, just in case.