Food allergy

Anaphylaxis

Alternative Names

Allergy to food

Prevention

Breastfeeding may help prevent allergies. Otherwise, there is no known way to prevent food allergies except to delay introducing allergy-causing foods to infants until their gastrointestinal tract has had a chance to mature. The timing for this varies from food to food and from baby to baby.

Once an allergy has developed, carefully avoiding the offending food usually prevents further problems.

References

Lack G. Clinical practice. Food allergy. N Engl J Med. 2008;359:1252-1260.

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Food allergy

Review Date: 04/23/2009
Reviewed By: Stuart I. Henochowicz, MD, FACP, Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology, Georgetown University Medical School. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).