Digestive disorders, hives, eczema, vomiting and asthma can all be signs of a food allergy. Generally, this disorder occurs a few minutes or even a few hours after ingesting food (ingesting an allergenic food). We help you to recognise them more easily.

What is a food allergy?

A food allergy is a set of abnormal reactions taking place in the immune system. These reactions are the direct result of eating an allergenic food product. Allergy can occur at any age, and its symptoms can be digestive, cutaneous, respiratory or cardiovascular.

The different symptoms of a food allergy

In most cases, the signs of a food allergy appear within minutes of eating the food. But in the case of a delayed allergy, the signs occur 24 to 48 hours after the absorption of the allergenic product. However, the nature and intensity of the symptoms vary from person to person. The allergy may also manifest itself by including any of the following symptoms, alone or even in combination. 

– Respiratory symptoms: these include choking, difficulty breathing, wheezing, and swelling in the throat. 

– Skin symptoms: these can be recognised through redness, rashes, itching, and also swelling of the face, lips and limbs.

– Digestive symptoms: these can be identified through diarrhoea, abdominal cramps, vomiting, nausea and colic. However, these symptoms are not always the result of a food allergy. They rarely indicate an allergy.

– Cardiovascular symptoms: these include a weak pulse, dizziness, pallor, and even a slight loss of consciousness. 

Treatment of a food allergy

The best way to treat a food allergy is to prevent it. This prevention measure is directly related to not eating any allergenic food. To be sure, a diagnosis must be made, after which the doctor can prescribe an allergen avoidance diet (your food bans).  This diet will exclude all foods containing the allergens identified during the diagnosis. This will allow you to consciously avoid a food allergy.