Give Allergies for ‘Food Colour’ a Time-Out!
Have your food allergies been holding you back from experimenting with food?
Are you unable to enjoy being the foodie that you always have been and trying out the latest cuisines wherever you go?
Has the food that used to entice you with its beautiful colours and varied spread now started bothering you?
Well, it’s time you give allergies from food colour a time out! Let’s find out how.
Book an appointment now!
What is food colour or dyes?
Colour or dyes are made from both natural and manufactured sources; each dye has its own set of characteristics and rules. People have been dying goods for years and have produced a variety of colouring techniques and styles. To achieve their final shades, food, pharmaceuticals, and fabrics may require different dyes or colours.
Colour differs from pigments in that it chemically attaches to the material, as opposed to pigments that do not. Its characteristics become ingrained in the object and can have an impact on those who consume or come into touch with it.
What is the purpose of colour or dyes?
Colours are utilized for a variety of purposes, including the appearance of products, detection of variations, and help to boost consistency.
They improve the appearance of products, it's doubtful that your ketchup would be appetizing if it was a horrible brown in colour. Colour can enhance the visual appeal of a variety of products, attracting customers and improving their overall experience.
The dye is necessary for products such as cosmetics to achieve the desired shade.
Different colours can be used to distinguish different flavors or selections from one another. In the world of pharmaceuticals, the perfect colour can make or break a drug's capacity to be identified.
They help boost consistency; you expect the same degree of quality from the same producer or manufacturer whether you buy a product in India or Dubai.
Natural products can take a wide range of appearances during manufacturing. If you make sure they are constant, customers have more faith in your goods when the same colours and appearances are there every time they buy them.
The food and beverage industry is one of the major users of colours.
Cosmetics, personal care products, and pharmaceuticals all include colours.
The following are some examples of frequently dyed food products:
- Ice cream
- Canned fruits
- Chips
- Soft drinks
- Candies
- Cereals
What are food colour allergies?
An allergy is an abnormal or exaggerated response triggered by your immune system to otherwise harmless agents in the environment.
In the case of a food colour allergy, your immune system reacts to specifically coloured food that is consumed.
Few of the food colouring agents are:
- Tartrazine is a synthetic food colour used to give food a yellow colour, this is used in cosmetics, personal care products, and certain foods. It is known to be the most allergic of all the colouring agents.
- Carmine gives a red colour to the food; it is present in red meat and is a natural food colour. It can be found in burgers, soft drinks and fruit yogurts. Though non-synthetic, it can lead to mild to moderate allergic symptoms when consumed.
- Annatto gives food a yellow-orange colour, it comes from the annatto seed. It can give rise to mild to moderate allergic symptoms.
How does it present?
For some people, an allergic reaction to a particular food may be uncomfortable but not severe. For other people, an allergic reaction to food colours can be frightening and even life-threatening. Food allergy symptoms usually develop within 24-48 hours after consumption of the allergic food.
Common food allergy symptoms are:
- Urticaria (Hives) all over the body with extreme redness and itching that may last from a few minutes to hours and days
- Difficulty in breathing with chest tightness and mild asthma attacks
- Headaches
- Flushing with discomfort
- Facial swelling
- Dermatitis (inflammation of the skin)
How can you know that you have food colourallergy?
The diagnosis of a food colour allergy is usually done by a food provocation or food elimination test.
- A food provocation test involves exposing the individual to suspected allergic coloured foods and testing for a reaction. This needs to be done under a clinical setup to tackle the allergy symptoms if any.
- A food elimination test is done by removing certain items from your diet to check if the allergy symptoms subside. Keeping a food diary or a food log helps pinpoint the specific allergy a person may be suffering from.
- A skin prick test is another method used to detect food allergies. Here, multiple pricks are made on the skin using different food agents, and their reactions are observed to detect specific allergies.
You can take our allergy evaluation test to analyze the level of your allergies.
What can you do if you have been diagnosed as having a food colour allergy?
While food colour allergies may be mild prolonged exposure to allergic foods may lead to chronic urticaria, eczema, or asthma.
Allergies treatment helps control the symptoms of allergy and reduce its recurrence.
While conventional medications like antihistamines help relieve the allergies symptoms, prolonged use of them can cause side effects like drug resistance.
As opposed to this, homeopathic treatment is safe and effective for allergies.
According to the National Center for Homeopathy (NCH), the treatment of allergies with homeopathic remedies has been widely explored, and tests have proven that they are quite successful.
Food colour allergy treatment in homeopathy
Homeopathic treatment for allergies help severe allergy relief restore the hypersensitive immune system to normalcy and reduce the intensity and frequency of the abnormal response leading to a permanent and long-lasting absence of the symptoms
Along with allergy treatment in homeopathy, avoidance of allergic foods can also help bring about faster recovery from the allergy.
Foods like jams, jellies, soft and fruit drinks, condiments, cakes, pastries, canned foods, ice-creams, chips, processed foods, instant foods, wines and other liquor if avoided can also help in the treatment of food colour allergy.
So in case you find your allergies coming in the way of your food fantasies, it's time to visit your homeopathic doctor, for a safe and zero side effect holistic treatment.
At Dr. Batra's® a homeopathic specialist can help you get the best and personalized treatment, allergies of any kind are treated holistically, whether they are seasonal, acute, or long-term.
To fight allergies, Dr. Batra's® recently launched Allergone - non-steroidal, side-effect-free allergy treatments that include a comprehensive allergy test and a homeopathic nebulizer to help you get rid of your allergies. Our allergy specialists have developed several comprehensive treatment options that combine efficient and painless global diagnostics with natural, side-effect-free homeopathy to bring relief from allergies.
The Cambridge Nutritional Sciences have validated Dr. Batra's scientifically proven food allergy test. It will help patients across India accurately and scientifically determine over 45 food-based allergies in about 35 minutes through a global, simple, and convenient single prick test. Book an appointment now!
Also read: Eating out with food allergy
