Food, allergies and edema | Symptoms, types and characteristics

Probably everyone is familiar with such a concept as allergy. Allergy occurs if not in everyone, then in someone close, in the circle of friends or colleagues.

An allergy occurs when a person has scratched a cat’s ear, drank juice or eaten shellfish, and the reaction manifests itself in the form of watery or itchy hands. In addition, many other unpleasant changes can occur, up to angioedema (Quincke’s edema) and anaphylactic shock.

With this type of immediate type of allergies, which appear immediately after consuming a certain product, you need to be very careful. Unpleasant reactions develop very quickly. In general, allergic people know what they are allergic to and try to avoid exposure to allergens.

Food allergy

On the Internet you can find information about «types of immune responses». I won’t complicate the post and will try to explain it in the simplest way possible.

What is the immune response? This is our body’s response to the «invasion» of a foreign element.

Usually there are some reactions to allergy that we are already accustomed to: sneezing, edema, lacrimation, skin rashes. These are immediate reactions and people usually know what foods they can and cannot eat and do their best to avoid allergenic foods.

There are more difficult situations, when reactions appear late, such reactions are also called late reactions. This is caused by immunoglobulin G (IgG). The effects of these antibodies may not appear for several days.

In simpler words, when a person consumes a food, the reaction is not immediate: it begins to appear after 48-72 hours.

The activity of immunoglobulins can cause a slow inflammatory process. And where there is an inflammatory process, the following begins to occur:

• The lymphatic system is filled with substances for the vital activity of cells, which is the direct route to edema of the lymphatic system.
• The kidneys are attacked by the inflammatory process. Therefore, excess water is no longer removed from the body. This leads to tissue edema.

Water, which is not eliminated from the body, accumulates in the interstitial fluid or in the cells of adipose tissue. Namely, this reaction is called hidden, because it is impossible to immediately determine the reasons for its occurrence.

People have been treating sinusitis for years with nasal drops, thinking they have chronic rhinitis. We blame everything on genes, bad ecology, climate, etc. In reality, however, it is a hidden food allergy.

Food intolerance

When immunity (immune reactions) is involved in an inappropriate reaction of the body, it is an allergy. But if immunity is not involved, there is no allergy, but there is something else. Let us now analyze the case in which edema occurs due to a food intolerance.

In case of food intolerance, our body is unable to digest or assimilate any product, even if it is of superior quality.

What causes food intolerance? The reasons can be different, and here are the most common:

• enzyme deficiency;
• violation of absorption in the intestine.

We know that our bodies cannot metabolize the food we eat until it is broken down into its smallest components.

In reality, everything is not so simple.

Recent studies have shown that the human body is capable of releasing macromolecules (undigested molecules) into the bloodstream through the intestinal wall.

This is where the problems begin. The intestine begins to send macromolecules where they should not be and in large quantities.

Macromolecules enter the bloodstream. The body does not know how to perceive them and what to do with them. Then an immune reaction – an allergy – can begin.

The most interesting thing is that the immune system does not react to some multidimensional molecules.

Where do all the macromolecules go and accumulate?

All this is a ballast substance, which the body cannot assimilate in any way. The body begins to fold everything into the lymphatic system, causing lymphedema. Some substances accumulate in adipose tissue, causing problems with excess weight. Be careful of allergenic foods.

This is how a banal hidden allergy can be the reason why you are often bothered by edema and have difficulty losing weight.