What Causes Allergies - article about What Causes Allergies

What Causes Allergies to Occur

While looking at what causes allergies to occur, the immune system in your body acts to prevent foreign particles from causing health problems such as infections. The foreign particles are also known as antigens. Allergens are types of antigens that produce allergic reactions in people. When the body has been invaded by allergens your immune system tries to destroy them by producing antibodies which are basically protective proteins. The body produces antibodies that are designed to attack a specific type of allergen that have entered the body.

Food Allergies

What causes food allergies to occur is basically reactions that are produced by your immune system to certain types of foods. It has been reported that about two percent of adults have a food allergy while about six percent of children have a food allergy. A lot of people have intolerance to food items however; they are different form actual food allergies due to the foods intolerance not having anything to do with the immune system. A food allergy can produce serious health problems in people and in some cases it can cause death.

Immune System

What causes food allergies to occur is basically your immune system makes a mistake and treats a certain type of food as a harmful item and in order to defend your body from this food substance the immune system stimulates specific body cells to create immunoglobulin E (lgE) antibodies to attack the food substance.

The next time you happen to consume this particular food item your immune system releases histamine as well as other chemicals which flow into the blood stream. The chemicals that have been produced create allergic symptoms. Experts believe that histamine is part of the cause of allergic reactions including itchy eyes, rashes and hives, dry throat, dripping nose, nausea problems, diarrhea problems and difficulty in breathing as well as anaphylactic shock.

The vast majority of food allergies are caused by certain types of proteins that are contained in peanuts, eggs, fish, nuts from trees including walnuts and pecans, certain types of shellfish including shrimp, crab and lobster. Regarding what causes food allergies in children experts claim they are typically caused by proteins in milk from cows, wheat as well as soybeans. Symptoms of food allergies typically occur a few minutes or up to about an hour after consuming the food allergy item. If you think you might have a food allergy you should consult with your doctor. You doctor can provide treatments as well as provide information about what causes your allergies to occur.

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