Food allergy in the baby

Babies are particularly prone to allergic reactions to milk, nuts, meat, fish and eggs. Soy allergies have also been on the rise in recent years in infants and toddlers.It is currently suspected that the pH value of the stomach plays a role in the development of allergies. Normally the pH-value in the stomach is relatively acidic.

In infants and toddlers, however, this acidic environment has only fully developed at the end of the 2nd year of life. In the context of an allergic reaction, infants and toddlers often react mainly with complaints in the area of the gastrointestinal tract such as diarrhea and vomiting. If these symptoms are very pronounced and the allergen is continued to be administered regularly, the symptoms may cause a delay in growth.

For infants with a food allergy, there are numerous so-called hypoallergenic products on the market, one speaks of HA food. Most children lose the food intolerance again during the first years of life. However, other allergies such as hay fever can develop later.

Food allergy in children

Infants suffering from food allergy usually outgrow it, so most infant and toddler allergies disappear by the age of 5. Teenagers and also adults usually develop other types of allergies. Often the food allergies existing in advanced age are so-called cross-allergies.

This means that an allergy to a certain allergen already exists, a common example being birch pollen. The antibodies that are formed by the body against surface molecules on the birch pollen and that eventually trigger the allergic reaction can also react to other, similar looking molecules. Typical cross-allergies in birch pollen allergy sufferers are for example allergy to apples and other pome fruits, nuts and soya.

However, there are also “real” allergies in adolescence and adulthood, in particular peanut allergies. Food allergies in adolescence and adulthood are manifested, for example, by a tingling sensation in the mucous membrane of the mouth or swelling of the lips. There are, however, allergies that can be life-threatening with circulatory shock and swelling of the airways. This is known as anaphylactic shock.