Christmas sweets and typical Christmas products usually have milk or egg among their ingredients, as well as traces of nuts, enemies in people with food allergies.
Although both problems are often confused, the truth is that there are certain differences between allergy and food intolerance, since while food intolerance consists of the appearance of an adverse reaction to the intake of a certain food or additive present in it, in the case of a non-immunological reaction. In the case of food allergy, it is an adverse reaction that appears after eating a food or an additive contained in it, appearing an immunological reaction.
This reaction appears because the allergic person’s immune system interprets that food or additive as an invader, causing a disproportionate immune response, in which the body releases, a series of chemical substances that try to ‘fight’ against said invader.
In the particular case of food allergies, its symptoms tend to be more serious, since it can cause: problems breathing properly, tightness in the throat, cough, hoarseness, vomiting, inflammation, and drop in blood pressure, hives and sore throat. Stomach and can even cause fatal risk reactions.
Food allergy can appear before any food or additive, although the truth is that we can establish a certain series of highly allergic foods: nuts (such as pine nuts, almonds, raisins, walnuts, hazelnuts and chestnuts) stand out above all, as well like eggs and milk.
Now that we are at the gates of Christmas, there is no doubt that there are many people who choose to include wonderful Christmas sweets in their supermarket purchases, such as nougat, marzipan, shortbread, sugared almonds… And although they are typical delicious products, the truth is that they can become a real enemy for those with allergies to Christmas sweets.
We must bear in mind that many of these typical products of these parties contain traces of certain highly allergic foods, such as traces of nuts, while others directly contain milk or egg among their main ingredients.
Therefore, if you currently have any type of food allergy, it is essential to pay special attention to the labeling of those Christmas products that you buy and that you are going to consume, to avoid those that contain traces of foods to which you are allergic.
This precaution should be even more important in the case of the little ones in the house, since nuts are the ones that tend to produce the most reactions, so it is not advisable to give foods with nuts to children under 3 years of age. From that age they can be included in very small quantities and in a crushed way, but always under the observation of parents or an adult.
In the event of any suspicion of the existence of a food allergy, it is essential to go to a medical specialist for its diagnosis, especially if we do not know that we are allergic to that product.
