Food allergies/What is it?

Food allergies/What is it?
The food allergy is the name given to all the clinical demonstrations which occur after the consumption of a food (sometimes after a contact on the skin or simply by breathing its odor) and in which there exists a particular immunological mechanism (production of specific antibodies, IgE).

The food allergy inaugurates the career from allergic the 1

It occurs generally early 2:

Dice first months of the life, in the infant (0 – 6 months) 3
With a maximum frequency between 1 and 3 years
Attention, a food allergy can in hiding another and causing another allergy.

More

Some figures
The food allergy is in constant increase. It is estimated that it doubled in 5 years 4. By comparison, the frequency of asthma it also doubled… but into 15 to 20 years! 5 the food allergy touches 3,4% of the population (adults and children) in France, that is to say 2.108.000 people. The children are 3 times more touched than the adults. The food allergy relates to 5 to 7% of the older children of less than 15 years.

Which are generally the food in question?
All the food is able to cause a food allergy at the hypersensitive individuals. Nevertheless, certain food is more often than others at the food origin of allergy.

The principal responsible food in child 6:

N°1: the egg white
N°2: the groundnut
N°3: cow’s milk

Then come

Leguminous plants: Soya, pea, bean, lens, broad bean
The fish
The food of the “nut group”: Almond, hazel nut, nut, Brazil nut, cashew nut, nut of pécan, pinion, pistachio
The food of the “latex group”: Lawyer, banana, sweet chestnut, kiwi
Cereals
Ombellifères: Dill, carrot, celery, coriandre, fennel, seeds of anise, parsley
The principal responsible food in adult 7:

N°1: group “rosacées”
N°2: group “latex”
N°3: group “ombellifères”

Then come

The food of the “nut group”: Almond, hazel nut, nut, Brazil nut, cashew nut, nut of pécan, pinion, pistachio
Cereals
The groundnut
The egg
Leguminous plants: Soya, pea, bean, lens, broad bean
The fish
Milk

Which are the signs?
The appearance of the signs is in general very fast, of a few minutes to 4 a.m. after the absorption of food. But, in case D `eczema and of digestive signs, the signs are permanent or appear within deadlines being able to go until a few days after the consumption of food.

The signs generally follow consumption, appear sometimes with the odor (inhalation of food vapor), or by contact on the skin with food or of the cosmetics containing of food proteins.

To recognize the signs of a food allergy can be very delicate, because they are varied and all the parts of the body can be touched. The signs are often associated and the cutaneous signs (on the skin) are most frequent in the child.

The diagnosis
Importance of the allergist:

Only an allergist can carry out a precise diagnosis. This diagnosis is based on the interrogation clinical, supplemented by cutaneous tests and if necessary of the blood examinations.

The clinical history of the disease (with reproduction of signs in a precise place, at a given moment, and by making a specific thing) and the antecedents, will make it possible your doctor to evoke the allergic origin of your symptoms.

How is the diagnosis made?

1èreétape: A meticulous interrogation
It makes it possible to seek:

Family antecedents of food allergy 8
Personal antecedents of allergy (food or not)
Conditions from occurred 9
2èmeétape: To specify symptomatology

At the end of how long started the symptoms?
Which symptoms?
3èmeétape: The catégorielle food consumption survey
It is an overall picture of all food introduced during 1 week

4èmeétape: cutaneous tests of allergy: Prick-test, Patch test

5èmeétape: The test of oral provocation (TPO):
Simple sensitizing or authenticates allergic reaction? In fact the TPO slices

The shock anaphylactic
It is about the most serious demonstration of the food allergy which requires an immediate processing. It often begin with a feeling from faintness, with itchings followed by an urticaria, a respiratory embarrassment. Sometimes a loss of consciousness associated with a voltage drop is observed. It is about a true medical emergency requiring an immediate assumption of responsibility (call of the SAMU).

Treatments
The mode of ousting

For the moment, the only treatment of the food allergy is the mode of ousting of food identified by the tests of allergy. It consists in eliminating from the food any shape of food. It is a long process of education because it is necessary to learn how to recognize the even masked allergens (in the industrial preparations for example), to decipher the labels, namely with what certain codes or names correspond and to also avoid the drugs or cosmetics which could contain some.

Ask council a specialist (dietician, nutritionnist) because an abusive ousting can generate deficiencies and imbalances.

For the children having a food allergy, there exists in the schools what is called a Project of Individualized Reception (FEEDS) which allows, by associating the parents, the doctor and the school to ensure the reception of the allergic child by proposing adapted meals to him.