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FOOD ALLERGIES

What is a food allergy? The food allergy is a bad response from the body’s defence mechanisms to substances that are normally harmless. Allergic reactions involve the immune system, which protects us from infections by viruses, bacteria and even parasites. When a potentially harmful element invades our body, the many different parts of the immune system work together, signalling to one another using chemical messengers, to kill the attacker before serious damage is done.

The first time the body encounters a new type of germ, it will be several days before the infection is overcome. As a general rule, the immune system keeps a memory of the attacker so that future infections of a similar nature are dealt with quickly and efficiently. This memory takes the form of anti-bodies, which are small proteins that are tailor-made for each attacker. There are several different types of antibody.

In people who develop allergies, the immune system works perfectly well against infectious organisms. In addition though, it has a tendency to react to normally harmless substances as if they were attackers. When this happens, the immune system becomes sensitised to the substance - it mistakenly identifies as the substance as a hostile factor and, by producing antibodies against it, programmes the body to react whenever it is encountered.

Whenever the body encounters this subject again, an allergic reaction results. Substances that cause this reaction are known as allergens, which are almost always protein molecules.

When the body encounters an allergen, even in tiny amounts, large quantities of allergy antibodies are made, which react with the allergen to set off a series of events called the allergic reaction. This process involves many different parts of the immune system, co-ordinated by chemical messengers released by the white blood cells.

There are all sorts of useful resources on the Internet that deal with food allergies:

Most of the damage to the body's tissues that occurs during an allergic reaction is a result of the release of chemicals from a type of cell called the mast cell. Mast cells are one of the cells that make up the immune system and are found in many different tissues of the body. These chemicals are stored inside the mast cell in the tiny packages or granules. When an allergen reacts with these antibodies on the surface of the mast cell, these granules are released.

The chemicals in them have a number of effects, including the enlargement of small blood vessels, increased leakiness of the blood vessel walls, the contraction of the muscle in the bowel wall and lung airways, and the increased secretion of mucus. These changes lead to redness, tenderness and swelling commonly known as inflammation. This allergic inflammation has different effects in different parts of the body. In the lungs it causes coughing and wheezing - the symptoms of asthma. In the nose it causes runniness and blockage - the symptoms of rhinitis or hay fever. In the bowel it causes colicky pain and diarrhoea or in the mouth, itching and tingling - the symptoms of food allergy. Sometimes the allergic reaction involves the skin, leading to itching and skin rashes.

Extract taken for "Food Allergies - Enjoying life with a severe food allergy" by Tanya Wright and published by Class Publishing, London. This is an excellent resource and is thoroughly recommended.

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