• Question: Why do some people get an allergic reaction to some foods when other don't?

    Asked by Ciara :) to Min, Marcello, Katie, Israel, Dheeraj, Aoife on 18 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Marcello Valente

      Marcello Valente answered on 18 Nov 2019:

      Allergic reaction are caused by casual errors from the immunity system (which protect us from dangerous bacteria and virus), during this errors the immunity systems target a component of food as pernicious causing an over reaction that can have severe consequences.

    • Photo: Aoife McHugh

      Aoife McHugh answered on 18 Nov 2019:

      Why some people get allergic reactions, and others don’t is not fully known, it is usually bad luck. It could be genetic, and it can run in families. It could also happen as a reaction when we are already sick and our immune system is already working hard. Usually it is bad luck.
      The immune system is the bodies way to protect itself from threats such as illnesses. Allergic reactions happen when the body sees the food or part of the food as a threat. If it wrongly sees a type of food as a threat, the immune system can over react. This is an allergic reaction. As we usually eat large pieces of food (for example compared to the size of viruses that cause the flu) the immune system works really really hard to fight what it sees as a huge threat (the food). The immune cells are carried in the blood, and if the body detects a threat it floods the area with blood swelling the area. This is why some allergic reactions result in swelling, and why food allergies can be dangerous as the mouth and throat can swell.

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