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Food Allergies vs. Food Intorences

Most of us have at least one food we can’t stand, but consuming a food you’re allergic to can do more than turn your stomach.

While about 7 million Americans, many of them children, have food allergies, they may not be as prevalent as people think. Just because a food makes you ill doesn’t mean you’re allergic to it. "I think it’s important to make a distinction between food allergies and food reactions," says Dr. Gailen D. Marshall Jr., a professor of medicine at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston. "In the public’s mind, if they eat something and get sick from it, they suggest that they’re allergic to it."

A true allergic reaction, however, involves your body’s immune system. "An allergy — as opposed to an intolerance or other adverse reaction to a food — is when the immune system essentially responds and attacks the food protein and causes a problem for the person," says Dr. Scott Sicherer, associate professor of pediatrics at the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York. Responses that don’t involve the body’s immune system — like lactose intolerance or food poisoning — aren’t considered food allergies.

Symptoms of food allergies can range from minor annoyances to more serious ones. "The ones most typically thought about are the immediate type of reaction — where you eat a peanut and get sick right away," says Sicherer. Food allergies cause reactions in four areas of the body: the skin, digestive system, respiratory system and circulatory system. Symptoms like hives, itching, swelling of the skin, stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea may occur. When an allergic reaction causes breathing problems, throat tightness, asthma symptoms or circulation problems (like a rapid drop in blood pressure and heart failure), it can lead to fatal anaphylactic shock, says Sicherer.

So who’s at risk?
Food allergies are more common in children than adults. According to the Food Allergy Initiative, a nonprofit organization that seeks to raise awareness of the problem, at least 8 percent of children and 2 percent of adults suffer from foods allergies. "Children are affected by a longer list of foods, many of which they outgrow," says Sicherer. "The most common ones for the little ones are milk, egg, peanut, soy, wheat, tree nuts and seafood. It seems that seeds are becoming a common problem as well. For adults, the foods that cause the most severe reactions are peanuts, nuts from trees, and seafood like fish and shellfish."

If you’re allergic to one food, you may also develop sensitivity to others, called cross-reaction, warns Marshall. For example, if you’re allergic to peanuts, you may react to other legumes like lima beans the first time you eat them. That’s why doctors give patients with food allergies lists of related foods that may cause similar allergic reactions.

The latest legislation
A bill pending in Congress, the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act, seeks to compel food manufacturers to clearly label products that contain the eight common allergens: peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, wheat and soy. Allergy experts believe that the legislation will help those with food allergies. "There are two big problems with the labels. One is the wording on the labels themselves may not specifically tell you what it’s in the food, or if it does tell you, it may do it in an unhelpful way," says Sicherer. "For example, if you’re avoiding milk, the label may say casein and whey [which are milk products]. Unless you’re trained, you don’t know what that means. There also have been issues of not being specific about what’s in the foods. It may say ‘natural flavoring’ and yet that might actually be milk."

Even if the bill passes, it’s still ultimately up to people with food allergies to be vigilant about what they eat. "The number one thing to understand is that in 2004, the only therapy for food allergy is avoidance. Although there is much work going on, there is not yet an acceptable form of either a shot or drops for food allergies that will successfully treat the patient," says Marshall. "One can only leave the food alone."

While some children can outgrow allergies if they avoid the food for several years, others last through adulthood.

The bottom line — if you discover you or your child is allergic to certain foods, be as careful as you can to avoid it and related foods. If you or someone else has any trouble breathing after eating a food, call 911 or seek emergency treatment immediately. "With anaphylaxis, the key to understand is that you’re dead or [you’re] better in 10 minutes," says Marshall.

Kelly James-Enger writes about health, fitness and nutrition from Downers Grove, Ill. She can be reached through her Web site at www.kellyjamesenger.com.