Food allergies and your immune system
People get food allergies for all sorts of reasons but having either a really weak or really strong immune system can be two of them. Some people also think that they have an allergy to something but in fact it might just be an intolerance.
A food allergy is your immune system's response to a food that your body mistakenly thinks is harmful. Once it decides that a particular food is harmful, it creates antibodies to fight it. If your immune system is weak it will make the decision lazily without considering everything. However, if it's too strong it will be overly keen and make too many decisions.
The next time you eat that food, your immune system will release massive amounts of chemicals, including histamine, to protect the body. These chemicals then cause allergic reactions. It's also possible for food allergies to disappear as you get older or when you're pregnant because changes to your lifestyle can affect your immune system - many people just don't want to test this to find out though!
A food intolerance, on the other hand, has nothing to do with your immune system, your body doesn't think that the food is harmful it just doesn't like it!
Read on to find out how smoking affects your immune system
Where next?
- Find out more information about allergies
By Vicky Woollaston
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