14 GUIDE TO WELLNESS CR.ORG
In addition, people can
become less able to tolerate
certain foods as they get
older. Milk is a common
example: Most adults who
are lactose-intolerant had
no trouble drinking milk
when they were young.
Whether or not you sus-pect you have an allergy
or think you might have an
intolerance to certain foods,
the stakes are high enough
that it doesn’t make sense to
guess. Here’s what you need
to know to determine
why you might be having
a reaction to certain foods
and whether that reaction
could become dangerous.Was It
Something
Yo u A t e?
Food allergies can develop at any
age. Here's how to know if that’s what
you have, and what to do.
Allergy or Intolerance?
Early allergies to ingredients
such as eggs, milk, and soy
often resolve during child-
hood, but they can resurface
later. And at any point in
your life, you can develop
new food allergies (which can
be life-threatening) or intoler-
ances (which generally cause
gastrointestinal distress).
A food allergy is an abnor-
mal and overactive response
by your immune system to
something it shouldn’t react
to. When you eat the offend-
ing ingredient—or sometimes
just come into contact with
it—your immune system revs
up production of antibodies,
proteins that fight foreign
substances. These indirectly
trigger the productionALMOST 19 PERCENT of Americans think they have food
allergies, according to a recent study published in JAMA
Open. But the research, based on a nationally representative
survey of 40,443 people, estimates that only 10.8 percent of
American adults may actually have a food allergy. That’s still
a sizable number—more than 26 million people in the U.S.
But it does reveal that there is confusion about what consti-
tutes a food allergy vs. a food intolerance. The research also
found that, contrary to popular opinion, you can develop
food allergies after childhood. Nearly half of those with them
reported the onset of a new one in adulthood.
of histamines, which
start what we recognize as
an allergic reaction.
Allergy symptoms can in-
volve your skin, respiratory
system, and gastrointestinal
system. They may be mildly
uncomfortable or downright
dangerous, and can vary in
severity and type each time
you come into contact with
the food. Swelling, itching,
hives, shortness of breath,
difficulty swallowing, light-
headedness, and/or vomiting
within a few minutes to a
couple of hours of eating a
food may signal an allergy.
“Most allergic reactions
happen quickly, right after
you’ve eaten a food,” says
Princess Ogbogu, M.D.,
an associate professor of