Everything About Allergy

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Dust, cats, peanuts, cockroaches. An odd grouping, but one with a common thread: allergies — a major cause of illness in the United States. Up to 50 million Americans, including millions of kids, have some type of allergy. In fact, allergies account for the loss of an estimated 2 million schooldays per year.

What Are Allergies?
An allergy is an overreaction of the immune system to a substance that’s harmless to most people. But in someone with an allergy, the body’s immune system treats the substance (called an allergen) as an invader and reacts inappropriately, resulting in symptoms that can be anywhere from annoying to possibly harmful to the person.

In an attempt to protect the body, the immune system of the allergic person produces antibodies called immunoglobulin E (IgE). Those antibodies then cause mast cells (allergy cells in the body) to release chemicals, including histamine, into the bloodstream to defend against the allergen “invader.”

There are so many ways to prevent and provide relief to allergies. However, we cannot deny the fact that still the best weapon for your battle against allergies is good nutrition. Prescribed and over-the-counter medicines will just help you contain the allergy symptoms. But good and proper nutrition will work to make your immune system strong so that in the process you can avoid allergy attacks. The chemical which we can account the allergy symptoms in our body is called histamine. Vitamin C lowers the histamine level and it can be found in certain fruits and vegetables. Bioflavonoid and vitamin B5 strengthen the immune system of the body and they can be found also in fruits and vegetables.

Allergy symptoms can be treated with medicines. However, there are ways to avoid allergy triggers at no cost. When you have allergy to pollen, always keep the windows closed and it would be better to use air conditioning instead of fans because they will just stir up dust. When you are using air conditioning, regularly filter the air. Cheesecloth can be used to cover the vents for better filtering. Mold growth can be prevented if the humidity in the house is kept lower than 50%. If you can not avoid having pets, it would be better if they are outside the house. Always keep the inside and outside of the house spick n’ span.