About the Author

My photo
Golden, Colorado
I'm a senior at Colorado School of Mines, studying Chemical and Biochemical Engineering. I will be graduating in May 2012. I love science and chemistry, but my true passion in life is cooking.
Powered by Blogger.
Showing posts with label food allergies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food allergies. Show all posts

Food Allergies Part 2: The Gluten-Free Takeover

Author: L. A. Briggs // Category: ,
   
Posted March 21, 2011 at 8:59 PM
   
It seems like in almost every supermarket that you go to now have a certain section devoted to gluten-free products. Much like dairy allergies, wheat allergies are becoming more prevalent among people.

So much like with diary, wheat allergies occur when the body produces antibodies that react in the presence of a particular wheat protein. The most common occurrence of wheat allergies occurs in young children, but most children outgrow the allergy between the ages of 3 and 5. The allergy is not very common in adolescents and adults. However, celiac disease, or gluten sensitivity, while not considered an actual food allergy, is more common among adults. A person can have both celiac disease and wheat allergies.

Celiac disease is a digestive condition that is triggered by the intake of gluten, a protein component of wheat. When a person who suffers from celiac disease consumes gluten, they experience an immune reaction that causes damage to inner surface of the small intestine that causes the body to not be able to absorb certain nutrients. Celiac disease has a wide range of symptoms, and sometimes it is hard to diagnose the condition because the symptoms mimic the symptoms of another digestive ailment. Some symptoms are very serious and life-threatening. Doctors are unsure of the cause of the disease, but they have found that if someone in your family was diagnosed with it, you have a greater chance of having the disease.

So what can be done about wheat allergies and celiac disease? The best advise is to avoid anything that has wheat, and particularly gluten, in it. As I noted above, most supermarkets today have whole sections devoted to gluten-free products. My mother is slightly celiac in addition to having dairy allergies, so having gluten-free and dairy-free foods is not new to me. Knowing that I too may have or develop celiac disease makes me conscious about the foods that I eat. It is really helpful that the food industry is aware of the growing problem and willing to make alternatives for the people with these allergies.

Click for Recipe of the Day
Comments (4)

Food Allergies Part 1: The Curse of the Dairy Allergy

Author: L. A. Briggs // Category: ,
  
Posted March 9, 2011 at 2:46 AM
  
Whenever my family goes out to dinner at a restaurant, my mother usually has to ask the waiter, “Is there any dairy in this?” She, like many others, of course has dairy allergies. It seems to be a growing affliction among many adults these days.

Allergies to dairy are cause by three components of milk: the casein proteins, whey proteins, or lactose sugar. The lactose usually is involved with an intolerance while the proteins are usually the source of a true allergy.

So what is the difference between a food allergy and a food intolerance?

An allergy is when something is ingested and the body recognizes it as foreign, which then causes the release of antibodies. This can cause the body to release histamines which give off the typical indicators of an allergic reaction. Intolerance on the other hand is when there is no enzyme present in the body to break down the food. In the case of milk, intolerance occurs when the body does not produce the enzyme, lactase, needed to break down the lactose sugar. This results in the presence of lactose in the intestines which can lead to gas, bloating, and stomach cramps.

Lactose intolerance is said to affect 30% of Americans, and is the most common food intolerance in the country. Unlike most allergies, lactose intolerance is something that can develop later in life. This is because the body stops making enough lactase as we get older.

My mother is one of the people that are allergic to the proteins in milk, and that trait seems to be a trait that runs in my family. While I seem to have less of an allergy than most of my family, I still try not to ingest as much dairy as I used to when I was younger. I always loved, and still do, drinking milk, but recently I have cut back on the amount of milk that I drink. However, I still partake of many other forms of dairy such as cheeses, and of course one of my favorite culinary confections is cheesecake, so I doubt I will ever be able to give up dairy entirely because it is just too delicious to resist.

There are many other non-dairy beverages available to consumers these days because of the increasing amounts of dairy allergies. Some of these alternatives include soy milk, rice milk, and almond milk. I particularly enjoy almond milk as a milk replacement. My favorite of the many brands is Silk PureAlmond™ Dark Chocolate almond milk. I think it tastes just like chocolate milk, plus it has more calcium than a glass of milk and it has antioxidants (according to its label). They even make dairy-free ice cream too, and it too tastes just like regular ice cream. You can't even tell the difference.
So while the number of people with some sort of dairy allergy or intolerance increases each year, the food industry is attempting to accommodate the people that have these afflictions with non-dairy alternatives. How delicious an alternative these are remains to be seen because sometimes there just isn’t an alternative to dairy.


Click for Recipe of the Day
Comments (3)

Search

Blog Archive

Followers