If you have a food allergy, your immune system reacts to a particular food as if it isn’t safe which could cause a life-threatening reaction. Food allergy is a fast response (minutes) by your body’s immune system to a perceived invader. Signs are immediate:

* Coughing
* Sneezing
* Vomiting
* Migraines
* Watering eyes
* Rashes
* Swelling tissue, hives or in severe cases an anaphylactic shock (swelling in the tissues of the tongue, mouth and throat) which requires emergency intervention.

Foods known to cause allergic reactions include: eggs, strawberries, milk protein, wheat, soya, crustaceans e.g. crab and prawns, additives/colourings, celery, cereals containing gluten (including wheat, rye, barley and oats), lupin, molluscs e.g. mussels and oysters, mustard, nuts (including peanuts, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts), sesame seeds and sulphur dioxide/sulphites.

TIP: To find out what food intolerances or allergies you have, consult The British Association for Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy to find a registered nutritional practitioner.

Food allergy is an abnormal response to a food triggered by your body's immune system. Allergic reactions to food can sometimes cause serious illness and death. Tree nuts and peanuts are the leading causes of deadly allergic reactions called anaphylaxis.

In adults, the foods that most often trigger allergic reactions include

* Fish and shellfish, such as shrimp, lobster and crab
* Peanuts
* Tree nuts, such as walnuts
* Eggs

Problem foods for children are eggs, milk (especially in infants and young children) and peanuts.

Sometimes a reaction to food is not an allergy. It is often a reaction called "food intolerance". Your immune system does not cause the symptoms of food intolerance. However, these symptoms can look and feel like those of a food allergy.

Food allergy is an abnormal response to a food triggered by your body's immune system. Allergic reactions to food can sometimes cause serious illness and death. Tree nuts and peanuts are the leading causes of deadly allergic reactions called anaphylaxis.

In adults, the foods that most often trigger allergic reactions include

* Fish and shellfish, such as shrimp, lobster and crab
* Peanuts
* Tree nuts, such as walnuts
* Eggs

Problem foods for children are eggs, milk (especially in infants and young children) and peanuts.

Sometimes a reaction to food is not an allergy. It is often a reaction called "food intolerance". Your immune system does not cause the symptoms of food intolerance. However, these symptoms can look and feel like those of a food allergy.

A food allergy is an adverse immune response to a food protein.[1][2] They are distinct from other adverse responses to food, such as food intolerance, pharmacological reactions, and toxin-mediated reactions. A protein in the food is the most common allergic component. These kinds of allergies occur when the body's immune system mistakenly identifies a protein as harmful. Some proteins or fragments of proteins are resistant to digestion and those that are not broken down in the digestive process are tagged by the Immunoglobulin E (IgE). These tags fool the immune system into thinking that the protein is harmful.

The immune system, thinking the organism (the individual) is under attack, triggers an allergic reaction. These reactions can range from mild to severe. Allergic responses include dermatitis, gastrointestinal and respiratory distress, including such life-threatening anaphylaxic responses as biphasic anaphylaxis and vasodilation; these require immediate emergency intervention. Non-food protein allergies include latex sensitivity. Individuals with protein allergies commonly avoid contact with the problematic protein. Some medications may prevent, minimize or treat protein allergy reactions.