Top 9 Allergens for babies, children and adults
The top 9 foods that account for 90% of food allergic reactions in babies, children and adults, includes:
Cow's milk
Egg
Peanut
Tree nuts
Sesame
Soy
Fish
Shellfish
Wheat
A few other common allergic foods are strawberries, tomatoes, pineapple, blueberries and raspberries.
The current allergy guidelines recommend that these foods be introduced between 6 - 12 months (but not before 4 months).
The reason to expose babies to the top 9 allergens is that early (and repeated) exposure can decrease your babies risk of allergies.
A few things - introduce one of the top allergens at a time, pay attention/track the food you’re introducing, and remember that if your baby tolerates it, you can keep it in the diet; you can offer it to them as part of a varied, wholefood based diet.
Allergy and intolerances
There’s a difference between intolerances and allergies.
Symptoms of allergic reactions usually occurs within minutes (up to 20-30 minutes) and can be life threatening, such as hives, throat swelling, breathing difficulties, eczema etc.
Whereas an intolerance can take hours (and up to 5 days), and can present with the following signs/symptoms:
Bloating
Reflux
Headaches
Skin rash
Eczema
Brain fog
Fatigue
It’s estimated that 45% of the population have food intolerances.
For example, up to 50% of the population have a reduced ability to breakdown lactose, the sugar found in milk, so it makes sense that a lot of people tolerate low lactose cheeses like cheddar cheese and parmesan cheese or do better when they switch to lower lactose dairy sources like goats/sheep’s cheeses or yoghurts, or nut/rice milks.
Identifying food intolerances:
Adults can do a simple food intolerance test to figure out what specific foods they’re intolerant to. This is done by a simple blood test (it’s a finger prick test), which can be organised in a naturopathy consultation. The food intolerance test tells us what specific foods you may be mildly, moderately or highly intolerant to, so we know which foods to avoid to give you symptomatic relief, while we support your gut health, including wheat, gluten, oats, rice, dairy, soy, peanuts, cocoa, shellfish and other common foods.
Alternatively, you can do an elimination diet, which can be effective but restrictive, so always work with a Naturopath/Nutritionist so we can identify what the specific food intolerances are, and how they’re affecting your health.
What is ‘Leaky Gut’?
Here’s the thing - the lining of your digestive tract is just one cell layer thick. These cells, enterocytes, form a barrier between you, your bloodstream, and immune system.
Food intolerances often develop as a result of ‘leaky gut’, which essentially is when undigested food molecules pass (or ‘leak’) through the gut lining into the bloodstream. This can happen for a variety of reasons, including medication, antibiotics, stress, caffeine, alcohol, processed foods, environmental toxins, etc.
The immune system then responds to these undigested molecules as though they are invaders, and you get an inflammatory immune response, which can drive inflammation, and can contribute to digestive issues, immune issues, mood swings, fatigue and brain fog.
What can we do about it?
The great news is that we can reduce inflammation to the gut wall, ‘seal and heal’ the gut lining and restore homeostasis in your digestive system + immune system.
A few key foods to heal your gut and reduce/manage food intolerances:
Eat zinc-rich foods, as zinc is one of the most healing minerals for your gut lining
Zinc-rich foods includes oysters, prawns, meat, cashew nuts, flaxseeds and pumpkin seeds
Focus on L-glutamine, an amino acid, which can repair and restore healthy gut barrier and gut microbiome, such as bone broth, sauerkraut and broccoli
Eat a diet high in prebiotics, specifically resistant starch, as this is your gut cells preferred fuel source, such as oats, potatoes, bananas, lentils and green peas.
Specific foods, supplements, herbal medicine or homeopathic remedies may also address your cause(s) and speed up results - for a more personalised approach (including bespoke meal ideas and recipes) I offer consultations and can give you specific guidance. You can book an initial consultation here