To help you understand what food allergy symptoms are, we explain where symptoms appear on the body and signs of anaphylaxis. Later, we talk about how quickly food allergy symptoms develop and what happens when you eat a trigger food.

Towards the end of the article, you’ll learn about common trigger foods and how doctors test and treat food allergy.

Symptoms of food allergy can affect many areas of the body. For this reason, it’s good to be mindful and pay attention to how you feel after eating or drinking.

Food allergy symptoms can affect the:

• Mouth: A tingling or itching feeling
• Skin: A raised, flushed, itchy rash (hives) and swelling    
• Throat: Difficulty swallowing and swelling
• Lungs: Wheezing or shortness of breath
• Head: Feeling dizzy and lightheaded
• Stomach: Abdominal pain, diarrhea, feeling sick (nausea) or vomiting

Anaphylaxis is a life-threatening systemic reaction and medical emergency.

Signs of anaphylaxis include:

• Skin reactions, including hives and itching and flushed or pale skin
• Low blood pressure (hypotension) or a drop in blood pressure
• Constriction of your airways and a swollen tongue or throat, which may cause wheezing and trouble breathing
• A weak and rapid pulse
• Nausea, vomiting or diarrhea
• Dizziness or fainting

Symptoms of food allergy can affect many areas of the body. For this reason, it’s good to be mindful and pay attention to how you feel after eating or drinking.

Typical food allergy symptoms usually develop within two hours of eating a food allergen. Though, it can be little as 30 seconds.

However, as always, there’re some very rare exceptions associated with more unusual types of food allergies. In those cases, food allergy symptoms can develop after a longer period of time.

If a person has severe allergic reactions to food, such as peanut allergy they usually won’t develop food allergy symptoms the first time they eat peanuts.

Why? Because the body needs time to build antibodies against the trigger food. Antibodies play a crucial role in your immune system and their purpose is to kill harmful bacteria and viruses. But when a person has food allergy, their immune system mistakenly identifies certain foods as a threat. After this, it begins to build Immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies that target the food allergen.

When you next eat your trigger food, the IgE antibodies spring into action. They alert other cells to release chemicals such as histamine. This is when you may experience food allergy symptoms.

Sometimes people who develop IgE antibodies never experience food allergy symptoms, despite being sensitized to the allergen. Researchers are still investigating why this happens.

The most common food allergens are a mixture of animal and plant-based products. Food manufacturers are required by law to list these ingredients on food packaging labels.  

These animal products typically come from cows, poultry and some fish, and include:

• Cow’s milk
• Eggs
• Fish
• Shellfish

These products are a mixture of nuts, seeds, grains, legumes, vegetables and preservatives, and include:

• Peanuts
• Wheat
• Soybean
• Tree nuts
• Sesame – Food manufacturers will need to declare sesame on labels in 2023

Wenn du ein bestimmtes Essen vermeidest, aber immer noch Symptome einer Nahrungsmittelallergie bemerkst, reagierst du möglicherweise auf die Gewürze in deinen Mahlzeiten, nicht auf das Nahrungsmittel an sich.

Zu den Gewürzen, die Symptome einer Nahrungsmittelallergie verursachen können, gehören: Oregano, Thymian, Koriander, Kreuzkümmel, Cayennepfeffer, Paprika, Kümmelsamen.

Allergien gegen Gewürze sind jedoch selten und werden oft durch Kreuzreaktionen verursacht. Solche Kreuzreaktionen werden auch als orales Allergiesyndrom (OAS) bezeichnet. Dabei können bestimmte Proteine in dem Gewürz, auf das du reagierst, Proteinen in den Pollen ähneln, die dir Probleme bereiten. Ein orales Allergiesyndrom ist in der Regel nicht schwerwiegend. Du könntest eine leichte, lokale Reaktion in deinem Mund und Rachen, an den Lippen oder im Gesicht bekommen.

If you’ve been avoiding a certain food but are still noticing food allergy symptoms you may be reacting to the spices added to your meals. Not the food itself.

Spices that can cause food allergy symptoms include: Oregano, thyme, coriander, cumin, cayenne pepper, paprika, caraway seed.

However, allergies to spices are rare and often caused by a cross reaction. This cross reaction is called oral allergy syndrome (OAS) or pollen food syndrome (PFS). Certain proteins in the spice you react to can be similar to proteins in your problem pollen. Oral allergy syndrome is usually not severe. You might get a mild, local reaction in your mouth and throat, lips and face.

So far, this article has focused on symptoms of IgE food allergies, however there are some types of food allergy that don’t involve IgE antibodies.

In non-IgE-mediated food allergies, different cells of the immune system activate and can cause an allergic reaction that can take hours or even days to develop.

People with a non-IgE-mediated food allergy may develop a rash on their skin and gastro-intestinal problems after eating their trigger food.

Gastro-intestinal symptoms include:

• Heartburn
• Indigestion
• Diarrhea
• Vomiting

While people don’t experience anaphylaxis with non-IgE-mediated food allergies, they can develop anaphylactic-like symptoms that are very similar and equally as serious.

One other type of food allergy that can trigger anaphylaxis is an exercise-induced food allergy. This is a rare food allergy that occurs when a person eats a trigger food before exercising.

If someone has mixed IgE and non-IgE-mediated food allergy they can experience symptoms from each type of food allergy.

If you think you or a loved one has food allergy, please do get this confirmed by your healthcare provider first. They’ll explain how to avoid your trigger foods and offer treatment advice.

Here are our top four tips to help you avoid food allergy symptoms:

1. Carefully read labels:Read and reread food labels. Food manufacturers list common food allergens on labels to help you avoid them. If you’re unsure about any of the ingredients on the labels, contact the food manufacturer so they can explain them to you.
2. Take care when eating in restaurants:It’s possible to consume traces of trigger foods through cross-contamination – so tell servers about allergies when making a booking or reservation. Also, always mention your allergies again when ordering food.
3. Triple check non-food product labels:Unlike food manufacturers, product manufacturers don’t have to list every single allergen on their labels. If in doubt, contact the manufacturer for a complete list. These products range from cosmetics to cleaning products, and even include pet food.
4. Manage your pollen allergies:Sometimes when you experience an allergic reaction to fruits, vegetables or nuts it’s because the body confuses them for pollen. When this cross-reactivity happens, you may have oral allergy syndrome (OAS), pollen food syndrome (PFS) – another name for the same condition. However, please do speak with your healthcare provider, so they can investigate if your symptoms are caused by an allergy to pollen or to a specific food instead.

When your healthcare provider diagnoses food allergy the advice they give will depend on whether your symptoms are mild or severe.

Mild symptoms: If your food allergy is mild your healthcare provider may suggest you take antihistamines to reduce your body’s reaction to the trigger food. Usually, a treatment plan will include a mixture of treating symptoms when they occur and avoidance strategies.

Severe symptoms: If your food allergy is very severe, your healthcare provider will suggest you avoid the food altogether – even in trace amounts. Additionally, they’ll also prescribe an auto-injector containing epinephrine. Don’t forget, it’s important to always carry two autoinjectors in case you accidently consume your trigger food. You should also consider wearing a medical alert bracelet or carrying an allergy alert card, so people know you have a serious food allergy.

For people with peanut allergy, they could also try allergy immunotherapy. This treatment involves repeated, controlled doses of the allergen. The aim is to desensitize the body to peanuts to help prevent a serious reaction if they’re accidently eaten.