All About Food Allergies

Are you unsure if your child has a food allergy or what you should do if your child has an allergic reaction? MH checks with the experts on everything you need to know about food allergies.

- Nurulhuda Suhaimi

Does your child always experience adverse reactions such as rashes or breathing difficulties when he eats a particular food? If he does, your child might have a food allergy.

According to associate consultant, Dr Alison Joanne Lee, Division of Paediatric Allergy, Immunology & Rheumatology, National University Hospital, the most common food allergies among Singapore toddlers are egg allergy (about 1.5 per cent) and cow’s milk allergy (less than 1 per cent).

If you suspect your child has a food allergy, ensure you check with a doctor first. “Confirm the diagnosis with an allergist, who will perform skin and/or blood tests. We see many children with suspected food allergies and often this is not true,” says Dr Lee. This happens at times because some parents may mistake their child’s reaction to a particular food as an allergy when it is not necessarily the case.

Is it Really a Food Allergy?

First of all, we have to highlight the differences between food allergy and food intolerance. Dr Lee clears this misconception.

“A food allergy is when the body’s immune system sees that food as foreign and overreacts to it when it is eaten. It can affect multiple organs in the body, including the skin, intestines, respiratory and cardiovascular systems. These allergic reactions may get worse if you give the food again because the immune response gets stronger and can be life-threatening,” she explains, “Food intolerances are more like “side effects”. They are usually less serious and don’t get worse or become life-threatening with subsequent ingestions. For example, monosodium glutamate (MSG) causing headaches or spicy food causing diarrhoea.”

How do I Know if it’s a Food Allergy?