Food allergy
The advice here is primarily written for parents of a child with a food allergy. However, most of it is also relevant if you're an adult with a food allergy.
There's currentlyno cure for food allergies, although many children will grow out of certain ones, such as allergies to milk and eggs.
The most effective way you can prevent symptoms is to remove the offending food known as an allergenfrom their diet.
However,it's important to check with your GP or the doctor in charge of your child's care first before eliminating certain foods.
Removing eggs or peanuts from a child's diet isn't going to have much of an impact on their nutrition. Bothof these are a good source of protein, but can be replaced by other, alternative sources.
A milk allergy can have more of an impact as milk is a good source of calcium, butthere aremany other ways you can incorporate calcium into your child's diet, including green leafy vegetables. Many foods and drinks are fortified with extra calcium.
See your GP if you're concerned that your child's allergy is affecting their growth and development.
It's very important to check the label of any pre-packed food or drinks your child has in case it contains ingredients they're allergic to.
UnderEU law, any pre-packed food or drink sold in the UK must clearly state on the label if it contains the following ingredients:
Some food manufacturers also choose to put allergy advice warning labels for example, "contains nuts"on their pre-packed foods if they contain an ingredient known to commonly cause an allergic reaction, such as peanuts, wheat, eggs or milk.
However, these aren't compulsory. If there's no allergy advice box or "contains" statement on a product, it could still have any of the 14 specified allergens in it.
Look out for "may contain" labels, such as "may contain traces of peanut". Manufacturers sometimes put this label on their products to warn consumers that they may have become contaminated with another food product when being made.
This can make it more difficult to know what ingredients are in a particular dish.
Examples of unpackaged food include food sold from:
If you or your child have a severe food allergy, you need to be careful when you eat out.
The following advice should help:
Here's some more advice for parents:
A food allergy is when the body's immune system reacts unusually to specific foods. Allergic reactions are often mild, but they can sometimes be very serious.
Symptoms of a food allergy include a raised, itchy red rash, swelling of the face, eyes, lips and tongue, and shortness of breath.
A food allergy is caused when your immune system mistakenly treats harmless proteins found in certain foods as a threat. It releases a number of chemicals, which then triggers an allergic reaction.
If you think you or your child has a food allergy, make an appointment with your GP.
The advice here is primarily written for parents of a child with a food allergy. However, most of it is also relevant if you're an adult with a food allergy.
Once you have been diagnosed as having a food allergy, you will receive advice about antihistamines, adrenaline and using an auto-injector.
Alexis Manning has a peanut allergy. She first found out that she was allergic to peanuts as a child. Some sweets just tasted bad and made her lips swell a bit, and it didn't take long to work out the cause.