If you have food allergies, you must be prepared to treat
unintentional exposure. Even people who know a lot about what
they are sensitive to occasionally make a mistake. To protect
yourself if you have had allergic reactions to a food, you should...
Food Allergy Treatment
Food allergy is treated by avoiding the foods that trigger the
reaction. Once you and your healthcare provider have identified
the food(s) to which you are sensitive, you must remove
them from your diet. To do this, you must read the detailed
ingredient lists on each food you are considering eating.
Many allergy-producing foods such as peanuts, eggs, and
milk, appear in foods one normally would not associate them
with. Peanuts, for example, may be used as a protein source,
and eggs are used in some salad dressings.
Because of a new law in the United States, FDA now requires
ingredients in a packaged food to appear on its label. You can
avoid most of the things to which you are sensitive if you
read food labels carefully and avoid restaurant-prepared foods
that might have ingredients to which you are allergic.
If you are highly allergic, even the tiniest amounts of a food
allergen (for example, a small portion of a peanut kernel) can
prompt an allergic reaction.
If you have food allergies, you must be prepared to treat
unintentional exposure. Even people who know a lot about what
they are sensitive to occasionally make a mistake. To protect
yourself if you have had allergic reactions to a food, you should
• Wear a medical alert bracelet or necklace stating that you
have a food allergy and are subject to severe reactions
• Carry an auto-injector device containing epinephrine
(adrenaline), such as an epipen or twinject, that you can
get by prescription and give to yourself if you think you
are getting a food allergic reaction
• Seek medical help immediately, even if you have already
given yourself epinephrine, by either calling the rescue
squad or by getting transported to an emergency room.
Anaphylactic allergic reactions can be fatal even when they
start off with mild symptoms such as a tingling in the mouth
and throat or GI discomfort.
Exercise-Induced Food Allergy
At least one situation may require more than simply eating
food with allergens to start a reaction: exercise-induced
food allergy. People who have this reaction only experience
it after eating a specific food before exercising. Some
people get this reaction from many foods, and others get it
only after eating a specific food. As exercise increases and
body temperature rises, itching and light-headedness start
and allergic reactions such as hives may appear and even
anaphylaxis may develop.
The management of exercised-induced food allergy is
simple—avoid eating for a couple of hours before exercising.
Schools and daycare centers must have plans in place to
address any food allergy emergency. Parents and caregivers
should take special care with children and learn how to
• Protect children from foods to which they are allergic.
• Manage children if they eat a food to which they are allergic.
• Give children epinephrine.
Simply washing your hands with soap and water will remove
peanut allergens. Also, most household cleaners will remove
them from surfaces such as food preparation areas at home as
well as daycare facilities and schools. These easy-to-do measures
will help prevent peanut allergy reactions in children and adults.
There are several medicines you can take to relieve food
allergy symptoms that are not part of an anaphylactic reaction. These include:
• Antihistamines to relieve GI symptoms, hives, or sneezing
and a runny nose
• Bronchodilators to relieve asthma symptoms
It is not easy to determine if a reaction to food is anaphylactic,
however. It is important to develop a plan with a healthcare
provider as to what reactions you should treat with epinephrine
first, rather than antihistamines or bronchodilators.
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