Shellfish They account for 90% of allergic reactions to food in the United States.
To read more about symptoms of food allergies, click here.
Let's take a closer look at these foods.
Cow's milk has been the earliest food of many, whether in the form of formula, or just plain canned milk with water and sugar added. Amazingly, a generation of post-war infants — including my parents — were brought up on a concoction of Carnation evaporated milk, water, and corn syrup. After infancy, we give it to children daily — pasteurized and homogenized, of course — by the glass, in ice cream, yogurt, and cheese. Think lasagna, macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese, cheesecake, milkshakes, cheeseburgers . . . the list goes on. We love dairy, but it doesn't always love us!
Eggs are also problem. In one form or another, we tend to eat eggs nearly every day. If we're not eating "straight" eggs, we're getting them in baked goods (where they're used as a binder and a rising agent) and in other grain products, such as noodles.
Here in the West, wheat is without rival. We love it for the way it holds together, for its tender flakiness in breads and pastries, and for that familiar "wheat-y" flavor. Even if they're not wheat-based, most processed foods include wheat in some form or another.
Ahh, soy. How on earth did this bean get so popular in North America, and why does the American government pay farmers to grow it? As early as mid-20th century, it was being used in infant formula, and now we can find soy in everything from crackers to tuna to french fries.
Peanuts — George Washington Carver's miracle legume. Now this is where it starts to get a little interesting. Peanuts and peanut products are nowhere near as ubiquitous as, say, wheat. Sure, some of us eat a lot of peanut butter. But why would a child who eats one peanut butter sandwich a day suddenly go into anaphylactic shock from it, while still being able to consume wheat three to four times per day, symptom-free?
And what about tree nuts? In this instance, many of us will go a week at a time without meeting a nut, and lots of people don't even like them ("There are walnuts in that brownie? No thanks!").
Not exactly a most commonly eaten food; why does it make the "most common food allergies" list? Some scientists believe that there are qualities inherent in the makeup of these foods that make them more allergenic. But why are people suddenly becoming allergic to them in such numbers now, whereas 100 years ago food allergy was relatively uncommon? People ate these foods then, too (with the exceptions of soy and peanuts, in many cases). What's different now?
Fish and shellfish have us scratching our heads again. Many people who live in the coastal areas eat seafood pretty often. But most people inland eat it much less regularly, with the exceptions of canned tuna and frozen fish sticks. Even if you eat fish once or twice a week, that's not a lot. What makes allergy to seafood one of the most common food allergies, when many people don't eat it very often?
It seems that sometimes discussions of food allergies generate more questions than answers. Stay tuned (subscribe to my feed!) to read more about the causes of food allergies!
Click here to go from the Most Common Food Allergies page to Symptoms of Food Allergies!
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