[Smart Farmers] World Allergy Day丨How to avoid allergies from what you eat?

People will come into contact with a variety of foods throughout their lives, and most people have experienced discomfort symptoms after eating at least once, which is called an adverse food reaction.

Adverse food reactions include food allergies and food intolerances. Food allergies usually have a rapid onset and obvious symptoms, and are acute diseases. For example, Howard in the TV series "The Big Bang Theory" is allergic to peanuts, which is a common food allergy.

Symptoms of food allergies

Symptoms of food allergy vary due to different immune mechanisms and target organs, and are non-specific. Clinically, they can manifest as sudden acute symptoms, such as urticaria, respiratory tract damage, or acute transformation of chronic symptoms, such as worsening of atopic dermatitis, but can also manifest as persistent chronic symptoms, such as food protein-induced enteritis, etc. Severe food allergic reactions may result in death.

Diagnosis of food allergy

Currently, many studies on food allergies are based on children and adolescents. As they age, many food allergies will gradually develop clinical tolerance. However, the prevalence in adults is often underestimated.

Some people believe that the elderly are also likely to develop food allergies, which may be related to changes in the immune system caused by aging. As people's awareness of food allergies continues to increase, some symptoms that they think are food allergies are not actually true food allergies, but there are still cases where food allergy symptoms are ignored.

Currently, oral food provocation test is the gold standard for diagnosing food allergy. However, allergen screening test is commonly used in clinical practice.

What should I do if I suspect I have a food allergy?

First, go to the immunology department or nutrition department of a regular hospital for treatment. The doctor will ask you about your medical history and conduct a physical examination. At this time, if you can provide detailed dietary records and symptom characteristics, it will be more helpful for the doctor to make a judgment.

Depending on the situation, your doctor may choose to perform a skin prick test or a serum specific antibody test to look for foods that may cause allergies.

After finding the foods that may cause allergies, a food avoidance test is needed to further identify the allergens.

What is the food avoidance test?

Food avoidance test is a common method that can help with diagnosis. For chronic symptoms, such as atopic dermatitis, the causal relationship between the two can be inferred by whether the symptoms improve after avoiding the suspected food. For example, if the suspected allergy-causing food is removed from the daily diet, leaving only a few allergy-causing foods, and then the symptoms are significantly improved or disappear, the food avoidance test is positive.

However, before conducting this experiment, there must be a detailed medical history, epidemiological investigation, and corresponding test results to find the most likely food causing allergies. At the same time, during the experiment, the patient's persistence and the recognition and support of his family members, and the elimination of interference from drugs and other factors, can ensure the effectiveness of the experiment.

During this period, since you need to avoid certain types of food or categories of food, in order to ensure adequate nutrition, it is best to have a nutritionist involved in developing a dietary plan for the food avoidance trial.

Once food allergy is diagnosed, how should it be treated?

Although food allergies will develop tolerance with age, early treatment is still important for improving prognosis. Usually the treatment includes the following aspects:

One is to avoid allergic foods to prevent the occurrence of symptoms.

The second is to use medication to relieve the allergic symptoms that have occurred.

The third is to actively treat and avoid severe allergic reactions.

Fourth, strengthen education to ensure that patients adhere to treatment and receive regular monitoring.

Since food allergies are closely related to daily diet, the full participation of a nutritionist is required during the treatment process to develop dietary plans for different stages and provide dietary guidance.

Author: Wei Guo, attending physician of the Nutrition Department of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Oriental Hospital

Scientific review: Yan Yan, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Oriental Hospital

Editor: Xie Yun and Wu Yuetong