Wheat Allergy
Food allergies are fairly common; there are a lot of people who are allergic to something. One of the more common food allergies is wheat. This can is an allergy that can be a real problem since wheat is used in almost everything that we eat. The good news is that a lot of food manufacturers have started to offer foods that are free of wheat. This gives allergy sufferers far more options, but surely keep in mind to be careful which food you buy and eat.
Wheat is as fairly common food allergy for small children, it is less common among adults as people do tend to outgrow the allergy. The most common symptoms of wheat allergy are asthma and eczema although in rare cases it can result an anaphylaxis. It is also a cause of exercise dependent anaphylaxis. This is where the allergy causes a person to go into anaphylaxis as the result of exercise. If you are likely to suffer from anaphylaxis it is important that you stay away from wheat products as the reaction that you have can be serious.
Avoiding wheat products can be real challenge if you have an allergy to them. There is wheat in almost everything. Wheat is one of the main staples of the western diet and it is widely used. While there are obvious places that you would expect to find wheat it also appears in a lot of places that you wouldn’t expect. Wheat is often used in sauces as a thickener and in a lot of products as filler. This means that you really need to pay attention to the label when you are buying food.
Since wheat is such a common allergy food manufacturers are required to clearly label which foods contain wheat. This will either be in the ingredient list or at the end of the list it will say that this product contains wheat. Eating out can be a bit more of a problem since a lot of restaurants don’t provide this information. Unfortunately it isn’t a simple matter of asking your waiter since they likely won’t know what products do and don’t contain wheat either. Fortunately more and more restaurants are starting to provide this information.
The good news for people who suffer from wheat allergies is that there are more and more foods becoming available that are wheat free. The reason for this is the trend towards gluten free foods. A lot of people are choosing to eat gluten free foods because they consider that gluten isn’t good for them. Since the easiest way to keep gluten out of food is to keep the wheat out of food most gluten free products are also wheat free. The advantage is that the market for people trying to avoid gluten is much larger than the market for people with allergies. This has resulted in more manufacturers making more products available that are wheat free than are available for most other people who suffer from allergies.