Egg allergy is due to egg protein, which we find in the white and which causes an allergic reaction with the appearance of certain symptoms. Know your diagnosis, treatment and nutritional advice to take into account.
The allergy to egg becomes one of the food allergies more common, but some also felt in one of the least known by a number of people, even though every year a lot of cases are diagnosed in our country, along with celiac disease.
These types of allergies appear most often in childhood. In fact, when it comes to egg allergy, it is an allergy that usually disappears as the little one grows, especially when they reach 3 or 4 years of age.
What is a food allergy?
Unlike food intolerances, the food allergies are characterized by being a reaction or inappropriate response by our bodies to a particular substance (which is called allergen).
What is an egg allergy and what does it consist of?
The allergy to egg is characterized in that the allergen comes into contact with the body of the person affected when ingested egg protein.
In this sense, egg albumin stands out (found in egg white), since it is the protein with the highest allergenic capacity.
Therefore, when a person allergic to this protein consumes eggs, the body creates antibodies in order to defend itself from what it believes is an “attack”.
An allergic reaction is triggered that can have widely varying clinical repercussions and risks, which means that the symptoms of an egg allergy are not always the same.
Symptoms of egg allergy
- Skin symptoms: urticaria, atopic dermatitis.
- Respiratory problems: shortness of breath or asthma.
- Neurological problems: sleep disorders and difficulty sleeping.
- Gastrointestinal problems.
- In severe cases it causes anaphylaxis (all of the above reactions together with vascular collapse, hypotension, and cardiac dysrhythmias).
Diagnosis of egg allergy
The diagnosis of egg allergy should be made by the specialist allergist based on the patient’s medical history, serological tests (Ie in blood), skin tests (with fresh food using the prick-prick technique) and exposure tests (intake of the food in question).
Of course, it is not advisable that the exposure test be carried out in children under two years of age with immediate skin, digestive and respiratory symptoms.
