10 Most Dangerous Food Allergies

Food Allergies? Uhh! We ignore unless we face it. A startling fact about the food on which we survive is that, “More than 170 foods are known to cause food allergies”.

A food allergic reaction may show up from mild itching to severe throat tightening or breathing difficulty and may even lead to death. A person may develop food allergy at any age and hence one should be aware of the common foods that cause allergy. And 9 out of 10 allergy reactions come from eight of the below listed 10 deadly food allergies.

1. Perilous Peanuts

Peanuts are not nuts, but legumes which grown underground. The delicious munching of the peanuts as snacks is quite popular. But, it is also the cause of more than 80 percent deaths along with tree nuts.

Another grave concern with peanuts is because it can appear in unlikely forms like grounded up in candies and cookies, in spreads and pancakes and special pizzas and so on.

Even small traces of peanuts may be sufficient to trigger severe response. The varied symptoms may include hives, eczema, diarrhea, vomiting, itching, asthmatic symptoms etc. If you know of this allergy, never ignore reading labels and asking questions before eating out.

2. Tricky Tree nuts

The nutritious nuts growing on trees, the so called tree nuts include almonds, cashews, pistachios, walnuts, hazelnuts and Brazil nuts in their family. Some of them are even ingredients in products for example, Gianduja, a sweet chocolate spread has about 30 percent of hazelnut paste. These are also high-risk allergies.

3. Milk

Milk, which is the primary source of nutrition for an infant, can be that allergen. Cow’s milk is known to be the most common allergy for infants and young kids. Milk of other animals may also aggravate allergy. It may indirectly be present as other ingredients like lactose, whey, diacetyl, curd, etc. The good aspect of this allergy is that it fades with time in most cases.

4. Eggs

Egg allergy is the second most common type in kids. Extreme cases of allergy may show symptoms even with smelling egg fumes. An egg allergy may cause mild skin reactions to severe anaphylaxis. Be cautious about less popular ingredients like albumin (or albumen), meringue and ovalbumin and low cholesterol egg substitutes. The chance of kids outgrowing their egg allergies by the age of five is a big relief.

5. Soy

Soy allergies tend to show up during infancy when babies are fed on soy formula.

Soy allergies tend to show up during infancy when some baby product contains soy. Soybeans are rich in proteins and some of them may set off allergic reactions.

6. Shellfish

Shellfishes include crustaceans like crab, lobster, and shrimp. “Tropomyosin” present in them can cause severe reactions usually in adulthood. This means that you may have eaten them as a child and it triggered allergy when you ate it as an adult. The intensity of allergy can be serious to the extent that cooking vapors alone may trigger reaction. Also, there are chances of cross-reactivity. So, if you are allergic to cockroaches, your risk for reaction to shellfish may increase or vice versa.

7. Wheat

People are aware of celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity in which wheat causes digestive discomfort. However, wheat allergy is caused because of one of the hundreds of protein found in wheat. In such a situation, the person should also avoid wheat-containing beauty products as well.

8. Sesame Seeds

Sesame is used in baking, as toppings, and quite common ingredient of cuisines. It is also used as flour and oil and is a severe food allergen.

9. Corn

Corn is used as filler in processed meats and as a sweetener in candies and jams. Though not so common in food allergies, there might be cross-reactions with other common allergens like grains and seeds.

10. Others

Less common yet life-threatening food allergies include celery, garlic, mustard seeds, Aniseed, Kiwi fruit and many more.

Hope this information helps you save life of people and even make their life easier while dealing with those deadly food allergies which may lead to “Anaphylaxis”- an instant yet serious allergic reaction which may even cause death.