Allergy symptoms are the result of an allergic reaction in the body. The most effective way to reduce and prevent allergy symptoms is to identify and eliminate the substance that’s triggering allergy symptoms. Allergy symptoms that can be controlled with diet are related to food allergies. If you suspect that you may have a food allergy, call your doctor or an allergist to make an appointment to be evaluated and tested. Certain food allergies can cause potentially life-threatening reactions.
Identifying Food Allergies
A food allergy is defined by MayoClinic.com as an overreaction of the immune system after eating certain foods that your body doesn’t recognize as safe. Ninety percent of food allergies are usually caused by the following foods: milk, eggs, soy, shellfish, wheat, fish, tree nuts and peanuts, according to University of Maryland Medical Center. Other highly potential foods that can also cause an allergic reaction include tomatoes, tropical fruit, pineapples and strawberries. Within minutes of eating a food that causes an allergic reaction, you will develop systematic symptoms, such as asthma, nasal congestion, digestive problems and skin rashes.
Diagnosing Food Allergies
Once you and your doctor identify certain suspected foods, you may be asked to participate in an elimination diet. An elimination diet involves temporarily removing from your daily diet the foods that your doctor thinks are causing an allergic reaction. At the end of the elimination period, you add each suspected food back into your diet one-by-one and record any adverse reactions that occur in a food journal. After discussing the outcome of the diet, your doctor may recommend allergy testing to clinically diagnose your allergy. Most allergy tests use your skin and a sample of your blood to identify allergy-causing chemicals that are present when an allergen is introduced into the body, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
Elimination
Once you receive a diagnosis indicating the foods to which you’re allergic, you will need to implement a strict elimination diet. Food allergies are incurable and require that you remove all food from your diet that triggers allergy symptoms. For example, if you’re allergic to wheat, you will need to avoid cookies, breads and other baked goods that are made with wheat flour. You may also need to remove ice cream, ketchup, salad dressing, coffee creamers and other unsuspecting foods that contain wheat. Your doctor and registered dietitian will work with you to create an allergen-free diet.
Consideration
Some foods can trigger allergy symptoms, such as hay fever, because the immune system confuses the proteins in the food as pollen. This condition is called oral allergy syndrome and is more common in people with hay fever. Most symptoms from this condition affect the mouth and throat but in rare cases it can lead to a severe allergic reaction, according to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
