Other sites in our network: What's on TV | Now | Pick Me Up | Puzzles and Prizes
Branding_print

Food allergies and your immune system

Boost your immune system | Food allergies and your immune system
Average rating: 3 out of 5 star rating

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

Average rating:

3 out of 5 star rating

Please leave a comment, tip or story in the box below

No comments

Add a comment

Please enter the characters in the image:

IPC Media Limited, owner of goodtoknow.co.uk, will collect your personal information solely to process your request


Lose weight quickly with the goodtoknow diet club

Enter your details below to get a free diet profile

weight

height

age

sex


Win! Festive London trip

Win! a night in London with Dove Intensive Range

Go skating at an outdoor rink in the city and get Dove goodies too

Enter competition


Health

Menopause quiz

Menopause quiz

How much do you know about the menopause? Take our quick quiz to test your knowledge




Today's health poll

What are your energy levels like?


  • Really low, I'm always exhausted 47%
  • It vaires depending on what I've eaten or how much sleep I've got 50%
  • Pretty good, I have quite a lot of energy 3%