Food Allergy Counseling: The Truth Behind 8 Common Food Allergy Myths: About.com

This year for Food Allergy Awareness Week 2014, I wrote an article for About.com Health about some of the myths surrounding food allergy that I hear all of the time during speaking events or within my food allergy counseling practice, like this one:

MYTH #1: I get headaches after I eat. It MUST be a food allergy.

Headaches are not a symptom of food allergies. A food allergy is an immune response to a particular food. Protein in that food triggers the body’s immune system to react, causing allergic symptoms.

According to the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Food Allergy in the US: “Symptoms may include itchy mouth, tongue and lips; hives; respiratory distress or gastro-intestinal distress. The most severe reaction is anaphylaxis - a rapid and potentially fatal onset of symptoms involving multiple bodily systems such as the skin, GI tract, cardiovascular, respiratory systems.”


Read more: The Truth Behind 8 Common Food Allergy Myths on About.com