How can allergies affect your social behaviour?

 

Allergies Affect Your Social Behaviour

When it comes to socialising and having severe allergies, daily life will be affected and the only possible way to prevent an allergic reaction is to completely avoid the foods that trigger it. Food allergies are not like environmental allergies. There is no medicine you can take to stop the reaction from starting before it happens. If you want to be safe, you should buy an EpiPen Auto-Injector Online in the UK, which is perfect for allergies treatment.

Avoiding the food you are allergic to means much more than stopping that food. It also means stopping eating anything that might contain food as an ingredient. Some people should even stop touching or inhaling food particles to which you are allergic. Sometimes there are non-food products, such as cosmetics, that can still contain allergenic ingredients (which can trigger allergic reactions).

Learn about cross-contamination
Something that may not appear on the food label is information regarding cross-contamination.

Cross-contamination occurs when foods that you can eat normally come into contact with foods to which you are allergic, for example, if the manufacturer uses the same facilities or the same technical equipment to grind many different types of food.

Some companies insert warning information on their labels to alert their customers to the risk of cross-contamination. Messages such as: "May contain peanuts", "Processed in facilities where shell nuts are also processed" or "Manufactured with technical equipment that is also used to process shellfish." You should avoid those food products that present this type of information regarding the foods to which you are allergic.

Although companies are required to specify on the labels of their food products whether the product contains allergenic ingredients, they are not required to include preventive information on cross-contamination on their food labels. It is best to contact the company to find out if the product could have come into contact with foods to which you are allergic. You can find this information on the company's website or email the company to ask.

Even if you have ingested a certain product previously, always proceed with caution. Companies sometimes modify the manufacturing process for their products or change suppliers. Also, products containing different sized servings may contain different ingredients or be manufactured in different facilities.

Be alert when eating out

Restaurants, canteens, and coffee shops are getting a lot better when it comes to preparing food for allergy sufferers. But cross-contamination is still a risk when eating out - the foods you are allergic to can get into foods you normally consume if kitchen staff use the same surfaces, utensils, or oils to prepare food differently

When you are not at home, ask what is in the food you are considering eating. Find out how they cooked it. Many people consider that it is better to take safe food prepared at home or eat at home before going out. If the friends you plan to visit or eat with don't know you have a food allergy, tell them well in advance so they know what to expect. If your friends eat foods that you are allergic to, do not share any utensils that are used for drinking or eating with them and avoid tasting their food.