Food Allergy (cont.)
What are the most common food allergies?
In adults, the most common foods that cause allergic reactions
are: shellfish, such as shrimp, crayfish, lobster, and crab; nuts from trees, such as walnuts; fish; eggs; and peanuts, a legume that is one of the chief foods that cause anaphylactic reactions. In highly allergic people, even minuscule amounts of a food allergen (for example, 1/44,000 of a peanut kernel) can evoke an allergic reaction. Less sensitive people, however, may be able to tolerate small amounts of a food to which they are allergic.
In children, the pattern is somewhat different from adults, and the most common foods that cause allergic reactions are eggs, milk, peanuts, and fruits, particularly tomatoes and strawberries. Children sometimes outgrow their allergies, but adults usually do not lose theirs. Also, children are more likely to outgrow allergies to cow's milk or soy formula than allergies to peanuts, fish, or shrimp. Adults and children tend to react to those foods they eat more often. For example, in Japan, allergy to rice, and in Scandinavia, allergy to codfish, is more common than elsewhere.
What is cross-reactivity?
Cross-reactivity is the occurrence of allergic reactions to foods
that are chemically or otherwise related to foods known to cause
allergy in an individual. If someone has a life-threatening reaction
to a certain food, the doctor will counsel that patient to avoid
related foods, which also might induce the same reaction. For
example, if a person has a history of a severe allergy to shrimp, he
or she can also possibly be allergic to crab, lobster, and crayfish.
The oral allergy syndrome is another type of cross-reactivity. This syndrome occurs in people who are highly sensitive, for example, to ragweed or birch pollen. During the seasons that these allergens pollinate, the affected individual may find that when he or she tries to eat fruits, chiefly melons and apples, a rapid onset of itching is experienced in the mouth and throat, and the fruit cannot be eaten. The symptoms of this allergy, which is caused simply by the direct contact of the food with the lining of the mouth and throat, resolve rapidly.
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