What is a food allergy?Is it harmful for children.

 What is a food allergy?Is it harmful for children.

Cases of food allergies are on the rise in children worldwide.

The recent deaths of two teenagers in the UK due to peanuts and sesame seeds revealed that such situations can have disastrous consequences.

In August, a six-year-old girl in Western Australia died from dairy food.

Allergy cases have gradually increased in Western countries in recent decades.

Food allergy cases in children have increased by seven per cent in the UK, nine per cent in Australia and two per cent in Europe overall.

Due to this type of allergy, the patient's family also remains in fear and abstinence and restriction in food and drink can become a burden for the family and socially as well.

Nothing can be said definitively about why this is so and why the number of people with allergies is increasing. However, experts around the world are working to find out why.

Why do allergies occur?

An allergy occurs when our immune system attacks something in its environment, meaning anything that should normally be harmless.

Symptoms include reddening of the skin, swelling and in the worst cases vomiting, dysentery and difficulty breathing.

Children are usually allergic to these types of food.

The milk

The egg

Peanut

Walnuts, walnuts

always

Fish

Snails

How are food allergies caused?

Over the past 30 years, there has been an increase in cases of food allergy, particularly in Western societies.

For example, the rate of peanut allergy increased fivefold between 1995 and 2016 in the UK.

 In the study, it was revealed that 2.5% of the children were allergic to peanuts.

A possible reason for the increasing number of allergy cases is the environment and western lifestyle.

We know that food allergy rates are lower in developing countries and higher in urban areas.

Factors that can cause this include pollution, changes in diet, minimal exposure to germs because it also changes the way our immune system fights germs.

Asthma and food allergies are also more common in immigrants than in their own country. 

Some possible explanations

There is no definitive explanation yet as to why food allergies have become so common in the world, but there are some theories in science.

Poor sanitation is also cited as a reason why children get many infections.

When there is a parasitic infection in the body, the body's immune system has to fight it and in the process, the body becomes active against the harmless components as well.

Another idea is that vitamin D can improve our body's immune system to respond positively and protect us from allergies.

Most of the world's population does not get enough vitamin D and spend less time in the sun.

In the United States alone, the number of people suffering from vitamin D deficiency has doubled in a decade.

Antibodies to allergens may also be absorbed through the skin, especially in children with eczema, according to a new theory.

When a baby is weaned, feeding fat and sugar improves the immune system in the gut and protects against allergies as it prepares to tolerate bacteria, foreign substances such as food.

In a lab study conducted at King's College London, five-year-old children who started eating peanuts from birth had an 80% lower incidence of peanut allergy.

The study also changed the precautionary principle in the United States that peanuts should not be given to children in childhood.

In the UK, parents are advised to consult their doctor as well.

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Human effects

Recent allergy deaths in young children in the UK have highlighted the importance of accurate and clear information.

Currently there is no cure for food allergy, the only thing is to not give this type of food to the patient and if it happens, to provide treatment on an emergency basis.

But it is very irritating for children and they may also be at risk of allergic reactions.

King's College has used an alternative blood test for them instead of existing test methods that clearly detect peanut allergy.

The test detects 90 percent of children's allergies and is expected to be available for children in the next few years.

Despite a successful diagnosis, it is often common for patients to have a sudden reaction to a food because it is difficult to stop the food that caused it.

In this context, a therapy called allergen immunotherapy is used. With the help of a substance, the patient is protected from the severity of the allergy so that if he accidentally consumes the forbidden food, it does not pose any health risks to him.

Other types of treatment are still being developed and much work remains to be done.

On the other hand, for the affected children and their parents, allergies are a problem in everyday life.