Twenty-five percent of American adults believe they have some sort of food allergy… but in truth, only about TWO percent of adults have an actual food allergy.
If something you eat doesn’t agree with you — you get an upset stomach, gas, or diarrhea — it’s not the same as having a food allergy. A food intolerance and a food allergy are two very different things!
A food allergy essentially triggers a massive overreaction by your immune system. You may experience rashes or swelling, and even blood pressure and breathing problems. And a food allergy isn’t limited to things you eat. Simply touching the trigger food can cause your immune system to go crazy! You can even experience a reaction from kissing a person who has recently eaten your trigger food.
Food allergies can be inherited from your parents. In fact, if both your parents have food allergies, you are seventy-five percent more likely to develop a food allergy than a child of parents who have no allergies. That doesn’t mean you’re safe if your parents are allergy-free, either. You can develop a food allergy at any point in your life.
On the positive side, you can also grow out of your food allergies. One fifth of children who have peanut allergies eventually grow out of their problems. Ten percent of children allergic to tree nuts (like almonds and walnuts) will outgrow their allergies. Your doctor can do what’s called an oral food challenge — this is a supervised test of food allergy triggers.
Perhaps the most common (or at least the most famous) food allergies are peanut allergies and shellfish allergies. But just about anything could be a food allergy trigger. I know people who are extremely allergic to things like strawberries and chewing gum!
If you do find that you have a food allergy, be sure to read the labels on your food! Some snacks are marked as being prepared on equipment that also prepares peanuts or walnuts or pistachios or other potentially offending foods. The warnings are usually located with or near the ingredients list.