According to a funded study, it said that an estimated 7.5 million people in America, or 2.5 percent of the total population, have some form of food allergies and the younger population of black children with asthma has the highest risk of having these said allergies. These serious findings came from the recent and widest food allergy research of the current times. The study was done at the National Institute of Health, at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and other well known institutions.

As written in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology’s October issue, the results of the study were highly based on blood tests of the sample and on qualitative interviews with around 8,000 participants with ages ranging from 1 years old to 60 years old. In analyzing the data gathered, the researchers checked the pervasiveness of four common food allergies and identified its relationships between asthma, eczema, hay fever, and the likes. Based on previously conducted studies on the same topic, the researchers found out that there are high numbers of people with national food allergy prevalence; but the current researchers on the subject mentioned that it would not be significant to compare the findings of the old and new studies on this matter. This is due to the fact that both studies vary in their methodologies, operational criteria, and differences in sample and population.

This current study however proves to be very much credible. Aside from its sample size, the strength of this study is its use of detecting various blood levels of antibodies in order to be able to identify actual infection rather than plainly identifying its theoretical risks. In fact, this research is the first of its kind to use such standard involving a big number of participants. The more participants they have, the more likely it is to generalize the data that they were able to procure. In addition, the use of scientific data such as blood samples would also depict factual and scientific results which can be easily measured.

Results of the Study

On the study done, a total of 2.5 percent of the subjects had a blood sample manifesting a certain food allergy. Here are the results of the study:

• In all the blood samples tested, the most common of them is an allergy towards peanuts. Around 1.5 percent of the sample tests were positive for peanut antibodies.
• Next to that would be allergies to shrimp comprising of 1 percent.
• Allergy to eggs which is 0.4 percent, followed suite;
• And allergy to milk which is 0.2 percent of the total.
• The remaining 1.3 percent of the population had more than one of the food allergies mentioned.
• The common allergies were usually found in children ages 5 or less. To attest to that fact, about 4.2 percent of the children tested were positive for food allergy antibodies.

According to the senior investigator of the study named Darry Zeldin, who is also the acting clinical director at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the study they did was quite comprehensive in a sense that they used targeted blood levels to be able to look at food allergies across the life span of the sample. The study found out that most children ages 5 and below had twice the likeability to have food allergy than those people who were 20 and above. In addition to that, black people are more likely to have food allergy than their Caucasian counterparts. Furthermore, men were 1.9 times more likely to have food allergies than women and young black boys were 4 times more susceptible to food allergy than while women ages 20 and above.

These interesting findings tell us that food allergies are very much common to people with asthma. Even if the researchers were not able to study the actual reasons and results between having food allergies and asthma, the results of the study showed that there is a high risk of asthma for people with food allergies. To add up, they mentioned in the research that people with asthma had about four times the threat of having a food allergy compared to people without asthma. In totality, individuals with food allergies of whatever kind were about 7 times more susceptible to asthma in comparison to people without asthma.

How to Naturally Prevent Food Allergic Reaction

Food allergies, although simple at a glance, may have bigger and negative results in the long run and it is very important for individuals to be informed about these things, especially on how to deal with future allergic situations. Some say that prevention is better than cure. So here are simple and basic ways on how to prevent food allergy.

Undergo some tests

The first thing that you have to do is to have yourself or your child (it can be your sibling or your own kid) checked for some possible allergies. This can be done by simple skin tests in a doctor’s clinic. Once you are fully aware of you being allergic to a certain type of food, you can start avoiding those triggers.

Learn to Read the Labels

Be very careful with the types of food that you eat. When doing grocery shopping, take the time to read the food labels and scrutinize the ingredients – even if it is something that you have been eating for the longest time.  Some food companies add on new ingredients to modify the taste, and you must be extra aware of anything and everything that you put inside your mouth.

Go Natural

One can make use of AFA blue-green algae to help prevent allergic reaction. AFA blue-green algae has been known to contain chlorophyll, omega 3 fatty acid and bet-carotene which stimulates specialized cells in the walls of the intestine to secrete a lubricating substance in order to trap allergy-containing molecules and stop them from going into the bloodstream. Thus, no allergic reaction takes place.

Probiotics such as Acidophilus and Bifidus are considered to be friendly bacteria which serve as a barrier between the bloodstream and the intestines. It basically works like the AFA blue-green algae where allergic substances are not allowed to go to the bloodstream anymore. Probiotics are also good for digestion.

Learn to say No

It is very important to maintain self discipline with your behaviour towards food. If in case you have allergies already and you failed to prevent it in its earlier stages, it is always good to maintain self discipline when choosing what to eat and how much you eat of it. It is always better to be prepared and informed when these types of medical challenges arise.

Sources
newswise.com
betahealth.glam.com
prosperity-abounds.blogspot.com