Healthy Kids Nutrition

Food Allergies and Intolerances

Food Allergies and Intolerances

Kids food allergies and food intolerances are on the increase.

5% of children under the age of four have a food allergy, compared to only 2% of adults.

What is a food allergy?

A food allergy is an adverse reaction to eating a particular food, and is caused by the body’s immune system over reacting to something in the food or drink, the reaction is often immediate, and can include a itchy rash or itchy mouth, swelling, coughing or wheezing similar to asthma, headache, vomiting or stomach ache.

Many children outgrow their food allergies by the time they reach school age. Although some children keep their allergies for the rest of their life.

Foods commonly linked to kids food allergies include

• cow’s milk
• nuts including peanuts (groundnuts)
• eggs
• fish or shellfish
• sesame seeds
• soya including soya milk or other soya products
• wheat
• or some food additives

An allergy to nuts is one of the most common kids food allergies. It can be life threatening, as in anaphylactic shock (read more below). Once diagnosed, the only treatment is to avoid any nuts and nut traces in the child’s diet. A lot of processed foods may have traces of nuts in them, so it is advisable to read the labels carefully if your child has a nut allergy.

Causes of Food Intolerances

Children of parents with food intolerances are more likely to have a food allergy. Breast feeding may provide some immunisation against allergies. However, pregnant mothers who have a food allergy are advised to avoid the cause of their allergy while pregnant and while breast feeding as this may make the baby sensitive to the same trigger.

Anaphylactic shock

A life threatening allergic reaction to a food (or a sting) which can occur from eating, drinking or just touching a particular food. The anaphylactic shock means that the blood vessels widen causing the blood pressure to drop. Symptoms include a rash, wheezing of shortness of breath. Emergency medical treatment is needed if someone goes into anaphylactic shock.