The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 15 million Americans are affected by food allergies, and allergic reactions are responsible for 30,000 emergency room visits every year.[1] Approximately 4 in every 100 American children have a food allergy.[2]
An allergic reaction happens when a food-allergic person’s immune system recognizes proteins in certain foods and causes the body to react in ways that can be quite damaging, even life threatening. Many reactions are caused when a food-allergic person eats a nonallergenic food that has come into contact, directly or indirectly, with an allergen.
There is also the autoimmune disorder celiac disease. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,3 celiac disease affects about 1 percent of Americans—roughly the population of Connecticut. Although celiac disease can manifest itself in many ways (including damage to nearly every major organ system), all patients experience one common symptom: destruction of the interior lining of the intestines by the body’s own immune system. The only treatment for celiac disease is to avoid gluten, a protein structure found in wheat, barley, and rye.
Major Food Allergens
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration lists eight common food items that cause 90 percent of food-allergic reactions in the U.S.: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans (Figure 1[4]). These food items are known as the “major food allergens,” or “Big Eight.” Allergic reactions have also been connected to various fruits, spices, food additives like sulfites and monosodium glutamate, and other common ingredients like molluscan shellfish, corn, seeds, and gelatin.