Sweet allergy

Allergy to sweets is most often a childhood disease, but adults are not spared this disease either. It is quite difficult to immediately determine which specific product caused the allergic reaction of the body, but it is possible. This article gives some advice on diagnosing one or another type of allergy.

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What causes allergies to sweets?

The cause of allergy to sweets is the fermentation of undigested food residues caused by sucrose. If a person already has a tendency to allergic reactions, then the decay products, very quickly entering the blood, increase the active effect of the allergy. Sucrose is contained in syrups, flour and confectionery products, candies, as well as in some vegetables and fruits.

What are the symptoms of an allergy to sweets?

It is necessary to know the symptoms of allergy to sweets "by sight" so as not to confuse them with the symptoms of other diseases or intolerance to some food products. The main manifestations of this type of allergy are itching and redness of the skin on the legs, arms, neck and face. It should be noted that the allergy may not reveal itself immediately, but only after some time. The most dangerous symptoms that can lead the patient to death are Quincke's edema, suffocation, anaphylactic shock.

An allergy to sweets does not mean that a person should give up absolutely all sweets. Many sweet products contain glucose, which is necessary for the body to function normally. Often you can observe the following situation: a person who has given up all sweets at once becomes not himself - he gets irritated for any reason, has poor control over his actions, is often nervous, sleeps poorly at night, feels a constant feeling of fatigue. This happens due to a lack of glucose in the body, as well as because the person has lost something that brought him pleasure. That is why it is necessary to identify and exclude from the diet only the product that is an allergen, and all other sweets can be consumed in the same quantities.

Allergy to sweets most often torments those people who consume products rich in sucrose. These include cakes, candies, cookies and other confectionery products.

Honey is also a fairly common sweet allergen. But the body's reaction is not to the sucrose contained in this product, but to plant pollen. By the way, honey may not cause an allergy - it depends on what plant pollen is included in this natural sweet. Honey, if it does not lead to an allergic reaction of the body, can be used as a remedy in the fight against allergies to sweets. However, before you start treating yourself with honey, you need to find out how the body reacts to this product.

Allergies to milk sugar – lactose – usually affect children, but sometimes adults also suffer from this ailment.

How does an allergy to sweets manifest itself?

Parents of children who know firsthand how allergies to sweets manifest themselves in childhood will certainly be able to share valuable advice on how to protect a child from contact with sweets. Although adults are also not immune to allergic reactions of this type, it is still much easier for them to cope with temptation than for children.

How to explain to a little sweet tooth that everything he so passionately desires is personally forbidden for him, when all other children can? How to avoid tears and hysterics at home, and especially in the store, when the desired product is just a stone's throw away? What exactly causes allergies in sweets and how does this allergy manifest itself? Can it be cured and if so, how? These are far from all the questions that interest every parent who has been faced with the serious problem of children's allergies to sweets.

First, let's talk about how allergy to sweets manifests itself. Most often in everyday life, you can hear the expression "diathesis has broken out again." Parents use this term to describe any rashes on the child's skin, and it is especially noted that diathesis rashes often appear after eating a significant amount of sweets.

Even a completely healthy child, having eaten a whole bar of chocolate in one sitting, risks getting a rash all over the body. However, there are a number of signs that distinguish an allergy to sweets from other causes of allergic reactions:

• redness of the hands, manifested in the form of itchy spots;
• rashes on the chin, collarbones, front of the neck, accompanied by severe itching. When scratching the itchy area, it quickly becomes covered with a crust;
• patches of dry skin on the legs, reminiscent of eczema peeling.

If the body has an increased predisposition to allergic reactions, then the manifestations can be violent and acute from the first minutes of contact with the allergen. An allergic reaction, in such cases, will probably be accompanied not only by skin rashes, but also by severe swelling, the most dangerous of which is considered to be laryngeal edema according to the Quincke principle, blocking breathing.

Another dangerous condition that can develop during an allergy is anaphylactic shock – a complete disruption of all vital processes in the body. Such a manifestation is possible when components of sweet food become provocateurs of another allergen, most often of protein origin.

In this case, a chain reaction begins, some manifestations are complicated by others, as a result of which the general condition of the body suffers quite strongly and the situation can only be saved with the help of professional doctors.

What does an allergy to sweets look like?

We have just looked at the main symptomatic indicators that indicate the onset of an allergic reaction after eating confectionery products. Anyone who is able to compare the fact of recently eating a chocolate bar with the immediate appearance of a rash on a certain area of the body can determine what exactly an allergy to sweets looks like.

Each person, depending on the general health condition, the strength of the body's immune defense, allergic reactions have varying degrees of manifestation. In some cases, an allergy to sweets can occur with a slight itchy rash on the cheeks, neck and inner surface of the forearm, which passes without special intervention in a few hours or days.

In other situations, even a small candy is enough to cause a whole range of negative feelings, from itching and rash to loss of consciousness. It is important to monitor the child. As soon as a rash appears, anxiety caused by itching is noticed - you should immediately analyze the food consumed and identify the most suspicious products, focusing primarily on sweets.

Treatment of sweet tooth with allergies

When an allergy to sweets appears, treatment begins, first of all, with a strict diet, which is called "hypoallergenic", excluding all products that can become an allergen for the body. This diet is also called therapeutic, because, in most cases, only by eliminating allergenic products can you get rid of all the negative symptoms, even without resorting to medications.

To alleviate the situation, symptomatic measures are taken to relieve itching, swelling and rash, using drugs from the fourth generation antihistamine group.

In difficult situations, detoxification therapy is carried out, as a result of which all toxins produced during the allergy process are removed from the body.

It is best to carry out any allergy treatment under the close supervision and guidance of a pediatrician or allergist in order to avoid unnecessary negative consequences in the form of complications.

What to do if you are allergic to sweets?

When the first signs of an allergy to sweets appear, you should stop eating until you find out the source of the disease. If the allergenic product is known, you should immediately stop eating it. However, giving up sweets can sometimes be very difficult, so before you start treatment, you need to focus on getting rid of the disease, so that during the treatment you do not break down and start eating the allergenic product again.

Today, there are many ways to cure such a condition as allergy to sweets. One of them is to gradually accustom the body to the allergen by introducing it under the skin in very small doses. The procedure is carried out under the strict supervision of a doctor.