Food Allergies Research Paper

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Every 3 minutes, someone has an allergic reaction to something and has to be rushed to the hospital. It's always hard to hear about kids getting sick or having an allergic reaction to something they eat. In recent years, more kids are being diagnosed with allergies to different foods that are supposed to be healthy for them. Food allergies are a major medical condition affecting up to 15 million people in the united states including 1 out of 15 children under the age of 18. http://www.foodallergy.org/about-food-allergies Milk and dairy products are supposed to give you strong bones, calcium, and vitamin D. This is one of largest and fastest growing food allergies. Most of the time milk is what schools have for children to drink at lunch or …show more content…

Your body has your immune system so it can kill and attack the potential threats that are in your system. When one gets sick or has a virus, the immune system tries to destroy anything unfamiliar in the body, therefore, when a person is allergic to a food, the immune system thinks it is a foreign invader, when it is just a food protein. http://www.foodallergy.org/about-food-allergies Some people are born with food allergies, but that is not always the case. People can become allergic to a food at any age, even if it is a food they have been consuming all of their life. There are a few major types of food allergies that are separated into categories.Some of the major food allergens are eggs, wheat, soy, and dairy. People can outgrow these food allergies, but peanut and tree nuts are two of the major allergens that can not be outgrown. There are many gluten allergy disorders but one of the major ones is celiac. Celiac is an autoimmune disorder that can be genetic. It is triggered when consuming a protein called gluten, which is mostly found in wheat. When gluten is consumed by a person that has this disorder, their immune system starts to attack by damaging the villi of the small intestine. When the villi is even a little bit damaged, it can become hard for the body to get all of the nutrients in the bloodstream, which can lead to malnutrition. If not treated, it can lead to other major illnesses. http://www.beyondceliac.org/celiac-disease/ One of …show more content…

If a school is cooking with anything that has touched peanuts, a child that is allergic could have a serious reaction and could possibly die. This could be a small mistake, but would have grave consequences. Due to the vastly growing food allergies in kids,schools have to take better precautions. Schools collect their students information to see if they have any sort of food allergies. Parents are also talking to teachers and setting up plans so if there child has a reaction they know how to address the situation. If kids are allergic to anything, their parents usually pack their lunch. However, there are families who can not afford to buy foods their child's body can digest properly without having an allergic reaction. Gluten free and dairy free foods can be very expensive. One family, the Gordons, have a total of 6 people who live in the house, and 4 of them have food allergies to gluten and dairy and certain dyes. The eldest daughter and the father are the only members of the family who do not suffer from food allergies. The mother has to grocery shop 2 to 3 times a week for her daughter and husband who are allergy free, and also for herself and her children with allergies.This family luckily makes enough money to buy these special foods but this is not always the case. On average gluten free products are 242% more expensive than regular products.

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