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What is egg allergy
There is a list of 14 items that cause 90% of food allergies. Among them is just an egg, the remaining 13 are milk, wheat, fish, crustaceans, shellfish, peanuts, sesame, hazelnuts, soybeans, mustard, celery, sulfites, lupins. Previously there were only 8.
– A food allergy is an adverse immune response (usually mediated by IgE) caused by a specific food, – says allergist Olesya Ivanova.
Can adults be allergic to eggs?
We often see food allergies in children than in adults. Egg allergy is one of the most common allergies. But still, it occurs in adults: someone has a true allergy, and someone has an intolerance, otherwise it is called a pseudo-allergy, the specialist continues.
As you know, a person can meet with a food allergy to an egg at any age.
How does egg allergy manifest in adults?
The reaction of a person who consumed a product that included an egg can be completely different. Someone suffers from pain in the abdomen, someone manifests itself in the form of loose stools, and the third has aggravated eczema. Breathing difficulties and asthma attacks also occur.
“If we see a true egg allergy, then it manifests itself in the form of urticaria and anaphylaxis, but this is rare,” the doctor says.
Note that the latter – anaphylaxis, can cause shock. A person may experience low blood pressure, severe shortness of breath, skin rash, nausea, and vomiting.
How to treat egg allergy in adults
Treatment for an egg allergy is fairly simple. It is necessary to exclude the use of eggs.
Your doctor will suggest that you completely eliminate eggs from your diet. Medications are sometimes prescribed to relieve allergy symptoms when they are unbearable. In some cases, egg allergy is also treated with immunotherapy.
Diagnostics
Diagnosis of allergies begins with a visit to the doctor. The doctor will interview you, find out what you eat, whether there are people in the family who were allergic to something. Then the specialist will examine you, your skin.
– If you conduct a molecular diagnosis on an egg, you can determine which eggs (raw or thermally processed) can be eaten. In diagnostics, we can look at the separate component of egg white and egg yolk. Depending on what results we get, we can understand whether there are risks for a raw egg, whether it is possible to eat a cooked egg, whether there are risks for some vaccines, and whether there are risks of a reaction after eating chicken meat. This is the so-called bird-egg syndrome. Also, egg white components contain lysozyme, which can be used as an additive in some pharmaceutical and food products, says doctor Olesya Ivanova.
Your doctor may also suggest that you have a skin test or blood test.
Modern methods
Note that some vaccines, such as MMR, are based on chicken protein. But they often do not lead to an allergic reaction.
The specialist notes that the only way to prevent a food allergy is to avoid contact with the food allergen.
There are 3 ways to control food allergies:
- completely eliminate the allergen (100% effective, but there are risks if you do not know the composition of the products);
- treatment of symptoms with epinephrine (adrenaline) – 100% effective with timely early administration;
- immunotherapy – 30 – 80% effectiveness at the research stage.
Prevention of egg allergy in adults at home
– Any prevention and treatment of true allergies is to remove the allergen. If you have intolerance, then you just need to reduce in quantities, the specialist says.
If you have an allergy, it is advised to keep a food diary. Track your actions, how your body reacts to a particular product. Write down what you eat, what symptoms appear. Keeping a diary will help you and your doctor quickly identify triggers – what is causing the allergy.
Also common measures to prevent allergic reactions include wearing a medical alert bracelet. It will warn others that you have a serious allergy in the event that you suddenly become unconscious and unable to answer questions from others and doctors.
Popular questions and answers
Answered popular questions about chicken allergy allergist-immunologist, candidate of medical sciences, member of the European and Russian Association of Allergists and Clinical Immunologists Olesya Ivanova.
Intolerance manifests itself in the form of possible allergic reactions, but this depends on the portion of the product taken. Let’s say if you ate one egg – everything is fine, three eggs – you have reactions. Here the solution is to take only the tolerated dose.
If an egg allergy occurs, we must completely eliminate the egg. Complications can be up to anaphylactic shock, but this is quite rare.
In baking, the egg can be replaced:
● soaked chia seeds (15 g of seeds + 45 ml of water, soak and use in the recipe after 15 minutes);
● ground flax (15 gr of ground flax + 15 ml of water, use after 15 minutes);
● banana, 1 egg – 50 g of banana;
● liquid from canned chickpeas, 45 ml.
How can you make an omelette without eggs?
To do this, you will need:
Dissolve sugar and yeast in 45 ml of water, fry vegetables in oil, add salt, pepper, mix 250 ml of water with chickpea flour, turmeric and soda in a separate bowl. Add yeast mixture.
Heat the oil in a frying pan, pour in the flour and yeast mixture, spread the vegetables on top. When browned, turn over and fry until done.