IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT COMMENTS

COMMENTS HAVE BEEN DISABLED

Because of spam, I personally moderate all comments left on my blog. However, because of health issues, I will not be able to do so in the future.

If you have a personal question about LI or any related topic you can send me an email at stevecarper@cs.com. I will try to respond.

Otherwise, this blog is now a legacy site, meaning that I am not updating it any longer. The basic information about LI is still sound. However, product information and weblinks may be out of date.

In addition, my old website, Planet Lactose, has been taken down because of the age of the information. Unfortunately, that means links to the site on this blog will no longer work.

For quick offline reference, you can purchase Planet Lactose: The Best of the Blog as an ebook on Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com. Almost 100,000 words on LI, allergies, milk products, milk-free products, and the genetics of intolerance, along with large helpings of the weirdness that is the Net.

Monday, February 25, 2008

The Two Types of Food Allergies

For some real facts, let's turn to a good summary article I found on MedicalNewsToday.com.

IgE-Mediated Food Allergies

The parts of the immune system responsible for immediate on-set reactions (the most dramatic example of which is food anaphylaxis) are IgE antibodies.

In allergic individuals (who are sometimes referred to as being "atopic") eating certain food proteins (such as whey and casein protein contained in cow's milk) results in the production of specific IgE antibody molecules directed against the protein. The second time the individual eats the food, these specific IgE molecules interact with each other, and the protein, to cause the release of harmful chemicals (such as histamine) from special mast cells. This causes the damage associated with the symptoms of food allergy. Damage may occur to the skin, respiratory system or gastrointestinal tract, where the symptoms of food allergy are almost exclusively seen.

Non-IgE-Mediated Food Allergy

"T-cells" are the components of the immune systems responsible for delayed-type food allergic reactions. In individuals with a predisposition for delayed on-set food allergy, initial ingestion of food protein leads to the production of specific types of "T-cell". When the food is subsequently ingested, the food protein is "processed" in a variety of ways and "presented" to the previously generated food-specific T-cells. These T-cells then "invade" the area of the body about to suffer damage, as the skin or the bowel. This processing, presenting and invasion can take 24-48 hours which explains the delayed response. T-cells release chemicals that, through a chain of events, lead to the damage associated with symptoms of food allergy.


IgE mediated reactions are sometimes referred to as "true" allergies, while non-IgE mediated reactions are sometimes called hypersensitivities. Unfortunately, these names are not consistently applied inside the medical profession or by the press.

You should also check out the entry on my website, Lactose Intolerance versus Milk Allergy, for a quick reference chart of the differences.

Bookmark and Share

No comments: