An Overview of Common Food Allergies
More than 160 foods have been found to cause food
allergies in sensitive individuals. However, eight major food allergens account for over 90 percent of all documented food allergies in the United States and represent the foods most likely to result in severe or life-threatening reactions.
These common food allergies include:
- Milk
- Eggs
- Fish (e.g., bass, flounder, cod)
- Crustacean shellfish (e.g., crab, lobster, shrimp)
- Tree nuts (e.g., almonds, walnuts, pecans)
- Peanuts
- Wheat
- Soybeans.
Food allergy patterns in adults differ somewhat from the patterns seen in children.
Common Allergies to Foods in Adults
In adults, common food allergies include:
- Peanuts
- Tree nuts (such as walnuts)
- Fish
- Eggs
- Shellfish (such as shrimp, crayfish, lobster, and crab).
Common Food Allergies in Children
The most common allergies to food in children are:
More Details About Common Allergies to Food
Tree nuts and peanuts are the most common food allergies that cause a deadly reaction called anaphylaxis.
Adults usually keep their allergies for life, but children sometimes outgrow them. Children are more likely to outgrow allergies to milk, eggs, wheat, or soy than allergies to peanuts, fish, or shrimp.
The foods to which adults or children usually react are those foods they eat often. In Japan, for example, rice allergy is more frequent. In Scandinavia, codfish allergy is more common.
