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Allergy Myths
Even though allergies are quite common in today’s time, the reality about them is still blurred to a large extent. A lot of people treat allergies as minor irritants and do not believe that allergies can in fact become complicated.
In fact, a lot of popular beliefs about allergies are just myths circulated due to lack of knowledge about them. One of the commonest allergy myths is that food allergies are very common and almost every second person has them. The funny thing is that a lot of people claim themselves to be allergic to food that they have had an unpleasant experience with, without trying to make a distinction between a reaction of the body against a substance and the reaction of the mind against it. The truth is that only a small percentage of people all over the world actually suffer from allergies. Children may develop allergies to some substances like pollen and food, but they usually outgrow them.
Another one of these common allergy myths is that an allergy causes a runny nose and watery eyes. This is not even close to the truth. Allergies can be very mild or very severe, depending upon the extent of the body’s reaction against it. Since it’s the immune system that reacts against the allergens, the reactions are different with different people, owing to the strength of their respective immune systems. The symptoms could be as mild as sneezing or they can be fatal. In fact, some people may immediately experience symptoms upon coming in contact with an allergen while other people’s body may take several days to react to the same allergen.
Not every negative reaction to a food item is an allergy. This is one of the allergy myths that cause people to believe they are allergic to certain foods when in medical terms, they are not. If you have an adverse reaction to any food, it does not always mean you have an allergy. It may simply mean that you dislike the food or may the food was not prepared in the right way. Food intolerance may also often be confused with an allergy. An intolerance of food is caused when the body is not able to break down the food during digestion. However, for an allergic reaction to take place, the immune system has to be involved. Both mean very different things.
One of the allergy myths that you certainly don’t want to believe in is that you may have a small amount of the food that you are allergic to, only on special occasions. If you are allergic to some food material that you may want to have, say for example alcohol, you may want to indulge a little once in a while. There is absolutely no telling how your body will react to this. Sometimes, the allergic reactions are so severe that a person may actually die. It is better to let sense prevail. If you are allergic to something, avoid it at all costs.
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