For people who love eating food, it is very hard to believe if about food allergies. Most of the time, we don’t even realize that there could be allergic reactions because of food substances. Even in the movie Hitch, Will Smith didn’t realize that he was allergic to a vegetable. At times you might not even realize it for long period because you might not have consumed that food substance. So how do you find out that you are allergic to certain food substances?
Allergist
The first and foremost thing to do is to contact an allergist. An allergist could help you take proper precautions and do the test. There is no magical way to diagnose allergies. There are certain tests that are done to find out what reacts with your body. It is not necessary that there will be skin allergy. Reaction could be anything, and from any substance. It could be from the food substance itself or from its seeds.
Skin Test
Skin test is the most effective test, though it may sound a little barbaric. But this is the most effective way to test any kind of allergy. The allergist injects the allergen or tests different known allergens to check for reactions. They do it in a controlled environment so the situation doesn’t go from bad to worse.
Blood Test
There are certain tests that can define if the body is allergic. A certain metric value or range of lgE would determine the reaction value. The allergist would measure the amount of lgE antibody in the blood. This test if done by a certified pathologist could give accurate results, but then it is not the accurate measure of the allergy.
Allergies could vary from person to person. And the reaction too can be very different from person to person. It is not necessary that if one person get scales on skin by touching bitter gourd then someone else would also have the same reaction. There could be different reactions and from different parts of the same food substance. So it is very necessary that an allergist is consulted and then remedies followed. For allergies, though, precaution is the best cure, and after consulting with allergy doctor, you can also go for medications that can work as a safeguard.