Food Allergy Quiz
Do you or anyone else in your family have a food allergy? Take this quiz and learn how to better cope with this condition.
1. Many people think they or someone in their family has a food allergy, but they
likely don't.
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Fewer than 1 in 13 children and 1 in 10 adults have proven food allergies. But many
people think they have food allergies.
2. Food intolerance can be more serious than a food allergy.
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Food intolerance means you may have digestive tract symptoms after eating a certain
type of food. For instance, lactose intolerance can cause gas, bloating, and belly
pain after drinking milk. A food allergy (hypersensitivity) causes your immune system
to react strongly to a food. For instance, a peanut allergy can cause life-threatening
symptoms. Food intolerances can be very uncomfortable. But they are not life threatening.
3. True food allergies tend to run in families with food allergies. Or they run in
families with other kinds of allergies, such as hay fever or asthma.
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Also, someone with 2 allergic parents is more likely to develop food allergies than
someone with 1 allergic parent.
4. Thoroughly cooking a problem food will prevent it from causing an allergic reaction.
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Food allergens are parts of the food that cause an allergic reaction. They are proteins
within the food. These proteins aren't usually broken down by the heat of cooking
. In some cases, a person with a food allergy may be able to eat cooked foods but
not the raw foods.. Talk with an allergist before eating any food that you have been
allergic to in the past.
5. An allergic reaction to food usually starts hours after eating.
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An allergic reaction usually starts within a few minutes. But symptoms can begin up
to 2 hours after eating the food. You may first have itching in the mouth as you start
to eat the food. If you have severe food allergy symptoms, the mouth itching can quickly
lead to more serious symptoms. These include hives, coughing, shortness of breath,
swelling, vomiting, diarrhea, and drop in blood pressure. In some people this happens
within minutes of eating a food. For other people, the symptoms take longer to develop.
The amount of food eaten can affect how fast symptoms appear and get worse. Exercise,
illness, or asthma also can affect this.
6. An allergic reaction to peanuts can be serious or even fatal, but children often
outgrow this allergy.
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Peanut allergies are serious and can be fatal. However, children are more likely to
outgrow allergies to milk, eggs, or soy than allergies to peanuts, fish, or shrimp.
7. People who are allergic to ragweed might get an itchy mouth when eating cantaloupe,
particularly during ragweed season.
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This is called cross-reactivity. Proteins in melons are similar to proteins in ragweed.
People with ragweed allergies might find that eating cantaloupe will cause itching
in the mouth. An itchy mouth alone is not often a symptom of a severe allergy. But
if a food causes your mouth to itch, don't eat it again until you talk with your allergist.
8. Sometimes a case of food poisoning can be confused with a food allergy.
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Meat contaminated with bacteria can cause what seems to be an allergic reaction. But
it's really a form of food poisoning. Some fish that are spoiled or kept at too warm
a temperature have high levels of a chemical called histamine. This may cause what
appears to be an allergic reaction in some people. This reaction is called scombroid
(histamine) poisoning.
9. The only way to treat a food allergy is by not eating the food.
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Once you and your healthcare provider have identified the food that you are sensitive
to, you'll need to remove the food from your diet. To remove the food, read the detailed
ingredient list for each food before you eat it. Many allergy-producing foods such
as peanuts, eggs, and milk appear in foods that you may not think they would be in.
For instance, peanuts are often used as a protein source. Eggs are used in some salad
dressings. Removing the food is the first step in treating a food allergy. For some
foods, such as peanuts, there are alternative treatments. These treatments, called
oral immunotherapy (OIT), involve slowly eating increasing amounts of the foods to
raise a person's tolerance to the food. This must be done carefully and under the
close supervision of an allergist. This is a treatment. But it's not a cure for food
allergy. The goal is to reduce the frequency and severity of allergic reactions. The
OIT peanut treatment is approved for children ages 4 to 17. Talk with your healthcare
provider about treatments available for food allergies.
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Medical Reviewers:
- Gotwals, Jessica, RN, BSN, MPH
- Pederson, Deborah, MD
- Sather, Rita, RN