Food Allergies and Vitamins

Food allergies, physical and behavioural problems, and environmental allergies are sometimes all inter-related. If you are considering eliminating certain foods to test for allergies and vitamins are a concern for you, this page is for you.

What Are Environmental Allergies?

Hay fever, asthma, a year-round runny or congested nose (rhinitis) sinusitis, recurrent colds and eczema may all be related to airborne allergens. Diagnosis of these allergies is generally with a skin-prick test, where a tiny amount of the suspected allergens are injected into the skin. If this results in a red, itchy bump, you've identified the culprit.

In recent years, studies have shown that the symptoms of those types of allergies can be relieved or aggravated by what we eat.

Food Allergies, Sensitivities and Intolerance

The term food sensitivity includes both food intolerance and food allergies.

A food allergy can involve an extreme reaction to certain foods, with peanuts and shellfish among the most well-known for their lethal effects in some people.

People with these food allergies must absolutely avoid anything containing those foods, and must carry a survival kit for treating anaphylactic shock if they accidentally eat something containing the food.

The consequences for balancing the daily vitamins and minerals of the person with a food allergy are relatively easy to adjust in these one-off allergies.

However, a person suffering an intolerance to certain foods will likely need to be more aware of ensuring that they are getting all of their essential vitamins and minerals in foods that replace the culprits, or through vitamin supplements.

Symptoms of Food Allergies

Symptoms of food allergies are rarely life-threatening but may contribute to many other health issues, some of which can seriously effect quality of life, including:

headache,
migraine,
fatigue,
depression / anxiety,
hyperactivity in children,
recurrent mouth ulcers,
aching muscles,
joint pain, rheumatoid arthritis,
water retention (edema), and
stomach and bowel ailments, including
- vomiting,
- nausea,
- ulcers,
- diarrhea,
- irritable bowel syndrome,
- constipation,
- bloating and flatulence,
- Crohn's disease.

Return to Top of Food Allergies

Food Allergies Test

Some of the most common food allergies may take years to be diagnosed for many reasons, including, but not limited to the following:

For one thing, the relationship to the food may be masked by the symptoms of the health conditions mentioned above — so treatment will treat the symptoms of those ailments, if it is not recognized that food may be the cause of the the symptom.
Food intolerance is also a very complex topic that allows for few generalizations: there may not be one set of symptoms that can be attached to any one food allergy or that are experienced by every single person who experiences intolerance.
An intolerance to certain foods may take years to develop, with the offending foods accumulating their effects in the body, and combining with more and more culpable foods.
Furthermore, it's possible that a food allergy will be brought on by a severe virus that upsets the digestive system in some way, and intolerance may tend to come and go, with symptoms fluctuating with other factors unrelated to the food, such as stress.

Another reason is that identifying the culprits in the diet is not an easy or instantaneous skin-prick test as is done for identifying airborne allergies.

The only truly effective food allergy test is to eliminate everything you normally eat, and then re-introduce each of the potential culprits on their own into your diet slowly, monitoring your body's response to each one. This food allergy test is referred to as an elimination diet. During this dieting process, you will want to be especially aware of your dietary vitamin and mineral intake.

You will also have to avoid sources of airborne and environmental allergies during this period.

The two biggest offending foods today are milk and wheat products, two very prominent things in our daily diets, and two very essential products in terms of the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients they provide.

Food Allergies and Vitamin Deficiencies

While testing for food sensitivities, or when eliminating certain foods from your diet to alleviate symptoms of allergies, you should also watch for symptoms of vitamin deficiencies, such as:

symptoms affecting your mouth — such as cracks at the side of your mouth, recurrent mouth ulcers, dry cracked lips and sore tongue — may be related to deficiencies in the B Vitamins (B2, B3 - folic acid, B6, B12), as well as Iron.
skin irritations (pimples on thighs and upper arms, greasy skin patches on face, itchy rash on scrotum or vulva) may be related to deficiencies in zinc, essential fatty acids and the B Vitamins.
symptoms affecting your eyes may be related to a Vitamin A deficiency, and possible deficiencies in essential fatty acids or zinc.

In any case, it is very important to talk to your doctor about possibly introducing vitamin supplements while testing for food allergies. In fact, you should also always consult a physician for guidance on how to test for food allergies and vitamins you may need to take while doing so.