Food allergies wear off with age

Jun 13, 2010

MOST food allergies wear off with age, say if it’s a toddler, by the time they are five to six years, it wears off,” Brenda Namugumya, a nutrition specialist says. <br>She, however, adds that sometimes allergies occur at an older age.

By Vision Reporter

MOST food allergies wear off with age, say if it’s a toddler, by the time they are five to six years, it wears off,” Brenda Namugumya, a nutrition specialist says.
She, however, adds that sometimes allergies occur at an older age.

“One may have always been okay with groundnuts but with time they react after eating them,” she says.
The onset of diseases such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis may cause food allergies that one never suffered from before.

Namugumya explains that a number of individuals suffer from food allergies as a result of the toxins in food. This is due to the presence of residues from earlier pesticides used or bacteria.

Children, however, are more prone to developing food allergies because their body systems are not fully developed. Nonetheless, 50% of all childhood allergies are outgrown.

Symptoms
Food allergy starts with sweating, sneezing, runny nose, coughing or the constant need to clear the throat. This is after one has smelt or eaten that particular food with a substance they react to.

“The greater the doses of the particular allergen taken in, the greater the effects, to the extent that they can get fatal,” Namugumya warns.

The effects can be noticed within a short time, even minutes, after contact with the substance.

Causes
Namugumya says the most common foods that start allergies are referred to as “The big 8,” and those include peanuts, eggs york, animal milk, wheat, fish, groundnuts, soya and sea foods.
Others include goat meat, beef and fruits.

Namugumya, however, warns that a number of these allergies are a result of other foods other than breast milk.
“Before six months, a baby’s body is not yet fully developed to absorb all foods.

When the foods are introduced earlier than six months, the baby may react
badly to them,” she says.

Caution and diagnosis
When food allergies are suspected, proper diagnosis should be made and right drugs prescribed to suppress the symptoms.

One of the methods of diagnosis includes skin scratch, whereby a bit of the skin is taken and tested to make out the allergy.

There is also a diagnosis method where the patient is exposed to the suspected foods so that the particular food they react to is found.

Namugumya advises mothers to avoid introducing other foods other than breast milk before six months and if they do so, it should be in small doses.

She adds that because food allergies can be fatal, parents need to alert teachers incase their children suffer from them.

Handling food allergies
Besides avoiding the allergen and taking the prescribed drugs when symptoms arise, Namugumya advises that patients wear jewellery with an inscription of what they are allergic to so that when symptoms arise the child can get medical attention.

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