A review of current evidence on food allergies during pregnancy - Tufail - 2023 - Food Science & Nutrition

Allergy, Intolerance, Or Sensitivity? Here's How To Tell The Difference

Food may be necessary for survival but that doesn't mean your body always reacts well to everything. There are a variety of ways your body can have a negative reaction to something you've eaten. Depending on the food, you can have an allergy, an intolerance, or a sensitivity. Since these issues can have different symptoms, it's important to know the difference and how to handle them. 

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Is it a Food Allergy?

In a food allergy, your immune system reacts to something you've eaten. This reaction can be caused by even a small amount of the allergen. An allergic reaction can vary in severity and it's not uncommon for them to worsen if you keep eating the food that caused the problem. Some of the symptoms you can expect with a food allergy include hives, itching, eczema, tingling or itching in the mouth, wheezing, swelling in your face, lips, or mouth, nasal congestion, trouble breathing, dizziness, and lightheadedness.

Sometimes, an allergy is bad enough to cause a life-threatening reaction known as anaphylactic shock. In that case, you may experience constriction of the airways, swelling of the throat that makes breathing difficult, a severe drop in your blood pressure, a rapid pulse, dizziness, and loss of consciousness. 

You can develop an allergy to any food, but the most common ones are milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame. 

When it comes to food allergies, your best course of action is to avoid them entirely. Though it's possible to have a mild reaction to an allergy, you never know if your body might go into shock instead. Mild symptoms can often be managed with an antihistamine. For those who have more significant reactions, doctors recommend keeping an epi-pen with you at all times. Apart from learning how to use it effectively, you should teach those around you as well. An epi-pen can get your symptoms under control so you have enough time to get to the hospital. 

Finally, if you start having symptoms of anaphylactic shock, you need to go to the emergency room immediately as this can be fatal.

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Is it a Food Intolerance?

If you have a food intolerance, it means that your body is unable or has trouble digesting certain foods. It's not usually life-threatening but it can make you feel terrible. The symptoms can appear within an hour or two after eating the offending food or ingredient. Some possible symptoms include stomach pain, passing gas, bloating, diarrhea, headache, nausea, constipation, joint pain, and fatigue. You may feel unwell for a few hours or even a few days.

The most common form of this condition is lactose intolerance. However, you can have an intolerance to gluten – found in bread and pasta, histamine – found in wine and cheese, caffeine, alcohol, sulfites – found in wine, beer, and cider, salicylates – found in some foods and vegetables, and monosodium glutamate (MSG).

While an intolerance isn't typically as serious as an allergy, it can be disruptive and sometimes painful. It's best to avoid foods that your body can't digest as you're not getting the nutrients from it and getting sick will affect how well you eat afterward. 

If you eat something that you didn't have an intolerance for previously or you weren't aware that the food contained the ingredient, the symptoms can usually be treated or managed with over-the-counter medications. 

Is it a Food Sensitivity?

Food sensitivities are a little trickier. These are usually described as your body having a reaction to something that you've eaten that is unrelated to an allergy or intolerance. Still, some of the symptoms can be similar. With a sensitivity, you may experience stomach pain, joint pain, rashes, fatigue, and brain fog. 

The foods that cause sensitivity can be the same as those that cause intolerances and allergies. However, the only way to be sure is to practice what doctors call an elimination diet where you remove certain foods one at a time to discover what's causing your symptoms. Once you know the culprit, you can avoid it. 

Generally, the symptoms can be treated with over-the-counter medication. 

How This Affects Black People

Interestingly, statistics show that Black Americans are more likely to have food allergies than other ethnicities. They're also prone to having multiple food allergies at the same time. The most common ones in Black people tend to be milk, fish, and seafood. While the root of this predisposition to food allergies can be affected by different factors, research suggests that they're linked to other health issues.

For example, Black Americans have a high chance of being diagnosed with asthma and this condition is linked to food allergies as well. In one study of Black children, those who had a food allergy also had asthma or eczema.

With intolerances, the data available isn't as comprehensive, and more research needs to be done. However, studies have shown that up to 65 percent of Black Americans may be lactose intolerant. Black people also have a higher rate of gluten intolerance than other ethnicities. Their reactions to other foods haven't been studied as well, though.

When to See a Doctor

Sometimes having an allergy or intolerance can get complicated. If you've been having symptoms of either condition and can't pinpoint what's causing it, you should ask your doctor about being officially tested. You can also talk to them about it if your symptoms don't respond well to over-the-counter medications or keep getting worse each time you're exposed to the food in question. This can involve exposing you to different allergens in a controlled environment to determine what's going on. Once you've been diagnosed, it will be easier for your doctor to guide you on the right course of treatment. 

Allergies, intolerances, and sensitivities aren't interchangeable. You need to know which ones are merely a nuisance and which can be fatal. If you're experiencing any of the symptoms listed above, your best bet is to keep track of what you've eaten so you can avoid the food that caused the problem. If things get worse, you should see a doctor so you can be treated.

How To Rule Out A Food Allergy In Your Dog, According To An Expert Veterinarian

Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways

"My dog suffers terribly from skin allergies and yeast infections. We changed his food to Hill's Science Diet for Stomach. He did really well, he loves the food, but he started getting spots on his feet and legs. Our vet gave him a numbing powder to put on his toes and medicated wipes. They help a little."

A: Did your dog only develop skin lesions on his feet after he started on the food? If he did, the lesions on the feet might be a food allergy. Dogs with food allergies may only show excessive itching of the feet but often also have ear infections, weight loss, and diarrhea or loose stools.

If your dog is a Boxer, a Lab, a German Shepherd, or a cross from one of those breeds, he may be more likely to have a food allergy.

Related: Itching Dog and No Vet? Allergy Pills That Can Help Right Away

What's in Processed Dry Dog Food?

The diet you are now giving is composed of:

Chicken and chicken meal: About 15% of dogs with food allergies end up having problems with chicken (1). It's one of the most common allergens after beef and dairy products.

Peas: This is becoming a more common protein source in ultra-processed food and may be a new cause of food allergies in dogs. There is still no information on how often this component causes food allergies in dogs, but we already know that dogs can be allergic to soy protein.

Barley, brown rice, and sorghum

Brewers' rice: This is a relatively nutrient-free byproduct food that is used as a filler because it is cheap and unfit for human consumption.

Flavorings: The food also contains flavorings since most dogs would not eat peas, barley, and brewers' rice unless they were tricked into doing so. Some of the common flavor enhancers sprayed on dog food include monosodium glutamate (MSG), rendered fats, and disodium 5, among others.

Finding Out Whether or Not It's a Food Allergy

To determine whether your dog's skin disease is caused by a food allergy, he will need to be on an exclusion diet (follow the link for a recipe), which is a special food that contains none of the protein he has eaten in the past. You can buy a hydrolyzed ultra-processed diet from your vet, or you can make up a homemade diet without those cheap fillers and artificial flavors.

Even if the skin lesions were present before you started this new diet, a food allergy to beef, dairy, chicken, or one of the other proteins he is eating is still a possibility. The most common allergies are inhalant allergies to things like pollen, molds, dust mites, and insects like fleas and cockroaches.

It is also possible that the skin lesions are a direct result of an ultra-processed diet. The most common cause of excessive licking of the feet, however, is contact allergies to grass and other things (like wool carpet). Anxiety can also cause a dog to lick his feet, and sometimes it becomes a habit that dogs develop just out of boredom.

Most veterinarians who follow the advice of groups like the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) are going to tell you to keep your dog on ultra-processed food for his allergies. (The AVMA gets most of its funding from the big dog food corporations.)

What If It's Not a Food Allergy?

Even if your dog does not have a food allergy, the best step would be to stop giving him the dry dog food. There are many other things you can do. Several studies have shown that the best method of improving skin condition is to give additional omega-3 fatty acids (2).

The ideal way to do this is by giving fresh fatty fish or sardines as part of a whole-food homemade diet. If you still want to give dry dog food for your convenience, you can add the fish on top of his regular food.

Keep in mind, however, that by continuing to give the dry dog food, he may still have problems. There are several reasons that ultra-processed dog foods lead to skin diseases. Research has shown that dogs fed a meat-based whole-food diet have lower levels of compounds associated with increased inflammation and skin diseases in dogs (3). Some dogs will improve just by changing their food, even if they are not allergic.

What Can I Do for My Dog While He's on the Exclusion Diet?

Although none of the things listed below are going to heal your dog if he has a food allergy or a problem with dry dog food, you can do these things to help a dog with itchy feet:

Wash the feet after a walk: Contact allergies are much more common than we used to believe, so even if the food is a problem, it can be complicated by a grass allergy. Simple avoidance will make a huge difference, so try not walking in any fields. If you have a mudroom, you can spray the feet after his walk, but if not, at least take a warm washcloth and wipe the pads, between the toes, and even on top of the feet.

Apply vinegar and coconut oil: After you have wiped the feet, you can spray them with a 50:50 mixture of apple cider vinegar and water. Vinegar is a good antifungal and will also kill some bacteria on the feet. You should apply a little coconut oil to the pads—but do not use too much, as it will stain the carpet.

Continue with the spray already prescribed by your regular veterinarian: An anti-inflammatory spray can help in some cases of itchy feet. It will not help with the root cause, however.

Do an oatmeal bath or foot soak: You should reserve this for when he is licking excessively. Mix about a cup of oatmeal and a cup of water in the blender, blend until fine, and then soak his feet for at least five minutes. This is not a cure, but it can make him feel much better.

Try the exclusion diet first to determine the cause of his itching and hair loss. Switching to a different brand of ultra-processed dog food that claims it's going to improve the skin is not going to help. They all contain similar ingredients.

Up Next:

Related: The #1 Best Diet for Yeast Infections in Dogs, According to a Vet

Sources

Mueller RS, Olivry T, Prélaud P. Critically appraised topic on adverse food reactions of companion animals (2): common food allergen sources in dogs and cats. BMC Vet Res. 2016 Jan 12;12:9. Doi: 10.1186/s12917-016-0633-8. PMID: 26753610; PMCID: PMC4710035. Https://pmc.Ncbi.Nlm.Nih.Gov/articles/PMC4710035/

Magalhães TR, Lourenço AL, Gregório H, Queiroga FL. Therapeutic Effect of EPA/DHA Supplementation in Neoplastic and Non-neoplastic Companion Animal Diseases: A Systematic Review. In Vivo. 2021 May-Jun;35(3):1419-1436. Doi: 10.21873/invivo.12394. Epub 2021 Apr 28. PMID: 33910819; PMCID: PMC8193331. Https://www.Ncbi.Nlm.Nih.Gov/pmc/articles/PMC8193331/

Moore R, Anturaniemi J, Velagapudi V, Nandania J, Barrouin-Melo SM, Hielm-Björkman A. Targeted Metabolomics With Ultraperformance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS) Highlights Metabolic Differences in Healthy and Atopic Staffordshire Bull Terriers Fed Two Different Diets, A Pilot Study. Front Vet Sci. 2020 Oct 27;7:554296. Doi: 10.3389/fvets.2020.554296. PMID: 33195525; PMCID: PMC7653775. Https://www.Ncbi.Nlm.Nih.Gov/pmc/articles/PMC7653775/

Lay's Classic Potato Chips Recall Upgraded To 'Class I' By FDA Due To Milk Allergen

Federal regulators have elevated the recall of Lay's Classic Potato Chips to the highest "Class I" risk level, warning that the product may contain undeclared milk ingredients, posing a life-threatening risk to consumers.

On Jan. 27, 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) escalated the recall to "Class I," its most serious classification, USA Today reports.

According to the FDA, "Class I" level recalls are used when there is "reasonable probability that the use of, or exposure to, a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death."

Frito-Lay had issued a warning in December that over 6,300 13-ounce bags of Lay's Classic Potato Chips could contain undeclared milk, posing a serious risk to those with dairy allergies. The recall affected products sold in Oregon and Washington.

The company recommends that consumers discard the product immediately and contact Frito-Lay Consumer Relations with any questions or concerns regarding the recall.

Why Class I Recalls Matter

Class I recalls are not issued lightly. The FDA reserves this highest level for situations where a product poses a direct, severe threat to public health. While some recalls are triggered by quality concerns—such as a product being too salty—this recall focuses on safety, not just taste, according to Forbes report.

Food labels are crucial for protecting consumers, especially those with food allergies. When labeling mistakes happen, they cause major concerns, forcing consumers to second-guess every product they buy.

The stakes are high for both consumers and companies. Beyond the immediate health risks, recalls like these can cost companies millions in lawsuits, lost revenue, and damaged consumer trust.

According to Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE), nearly 33 million Americans live with food allergies. Undeclared allergens continue to be a leading cause of food recalls in the U.S., with milk, peanuts, and shellfish topping the list.

Understanding Milk Allergies

Milk allergies and milk intolerances are different conditions, according to the Mayo Clinic. While a milk allergy involves the immune system and can cause severe reactions, milk and lactose intolerance do not, and require different treatments.

Trust And Accuracy At Stake

The increasing demand for allergen-free certifications and products for sensitive populations is driving brands to rethink labeling and safety practices.

This recall isn't just an oversight—it's a reminder that trust, safety, and transparency are crucial. For families managing food allergies, mislabeled products create unnecessary anxiety. For food brands, accuracy in labeling is not just a regulatory matter, but the foundation of consumer trust.

As supply chains become more complex and consumer expectations grow, the stakes for labeling errors are higher.

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