Can food allergies cause asthma?

The answer is yes, but the two are not absolutely causally bound. Not all food allergies can induce asthma, and not all asthma is related to food allergies.

Two years ago, when I was helping follow up patients in the allergy department, I met a boy who was in third grade. He used inhalers regularly and had not had an acute asthma attack for more than half a year. On his last birthday, when his parents were not paying attention, he secretly took a bite of a peanut butter cookie hidden by his sister. In less than ten minutes, He clutched his neck and complained that his throat was itchy and his chest was tight, and then he started to wheeze. When he was sent to the emergency room, the blood oxygen saturation on the monitor dropped to 92%. Later, an allergen test was conducted and it was found that he was severely allergic to peanuts. This acute attack was directly triggered by food allergy.

For a long time in the past, the clinical community generally believed that only patients with underlying asthma would have food allergies that induce airway spasm. After all, common mild food allergies are mostly limited to symptoms of the skin and digestive tract, such as urticaria, vomiting and diarrhea, and rarely involve the respiratory tract. However, there have been sporadic extreme case reports in the past two years. A small number of people with no history of asthma before have asthma-like symptoms accompanied by bronchospasm when they develop severe food allergies. However, these cases account for less than 1% of food allergy cases. At present, there is not enough large sample data to support the conclusion, and everyone does not need to be overly anxious.

In fact, to put it bluntly, it is easy to understand. If our immune system takes a "greed" against a certain food, it will release a bunch of inflammatory factors to "fight back" next time it encounters it. If the inflammation is only localized, the uproar will pass after a while. If the inflammatory reaction is too severe, It is intense and spreads to the respiratory tract, causing the airway mucosa to swell and the smooth muscles to tighten and shrink into a ball. The originally smooth airway is like a pinched plastic straw. It is difficult to inhale and exhale, and a wheezing sound like a bellows is emitted, which is a typical manifestation of an asthma attack.

You can also pay more attention to it. If you find that every time you eat a certain food, you will not only have itchy skin and diarrhea, but also a bit of chest tightness and severe coughing. Even if the wheezing is not obvious, it is best to check the allergens. Especially for people with a history of allergic rhinitis and asthma, try to avoid clear allergenic foods. If you accidentally eat and cause wheezing, don't bear it, and seek treatment at the nearest hospital. Asthma attacks induced by severe allergies progress very quickly, and it is really dangerous if it lasts for a long time.