This week's focus: Allergy Relief

Note: This brochure discusses diet and lifestyle changes that published research has shown may support allergy treatment. Talk to your healthcare provider to learn more about your options and before making changes to your everyday nutrition and self-care practices.

Overview

If you have diagnosed allergies, then you may have already started to address triggers affecting your day-to-day health and comfort. But if you are all too aware of your watery eyes, stuffy nose, and clogged head without being sure of the cause, do some research. Allergic reactions can be in response to virtually any food, airborne substance, or chemical, so you must first figure out the culprit before knowing how to best treat the problem. Here are some ways to find your triggers:

• Ask an allergist to test you for food and environmental allergies.
• Talk to a specialist about how to use an elimination diet to pinpoint problem foods.
• Keep a journal of your symptoms, including where you went and what you did, ate, wore, and so on, when you had them. Look for patterns.

Once you know the causes, you and your healthcare professional can explore the most effective treatment options for you. This may include changes to diet, activities, work and home environments, and medicines and other therapies that help prevent inflammatory responses before they happen or that help soothe symptoms.

Symptoms
Common symptoms include itchy, watery eyes; sneezing; headache; fatigue; postnasal drip; runny, stuffy, or itchy nose; sore throat; dark circles under the eyes; an itchy feeling in the mouth or throat; abdominal pain; diarrhea; and the appearance of an itchy, red skin rash.

Sinus congestion, a common symptom of allergic reactions to environmental irritants and allergens such as pollens, dust, smoke, and foods, may result from inflammation and swelling of the nasal tissues caused by allergic reactions. This may feel like pressure, tenderness, or pain the eyebrows and premolars and may cause nasal stuffiness accompanied by a thick yellow or green mucous, postnasal drip, bad breath, and an irritating dry cough.

Top Tips for Allergy Control

Eat Right
Uncover underlying causes: Research indicates that people with inhalant allergies are likely to also have food allergies. If you suspect your morning bagel or grilled-cheese lunch might be causing your symptoms, it's time to find out. Temporarily following an elimination diet or a hypoallergenic diet can pinpoint common allergens such as wheat, dairy, eggs, corn, soy, citrus fruits, nuts, peanuts, tomatoes, food coloring and preservatives, coffee, and chocolate.

Food allergies are best identified by means of an allergy- elimination diet, which should be supervised by a doctor, especially in people with a history of severe allergic reactions. Once you have figured out the foods at fault, simply avoid them and take advantage of the many alternative products on the market. Many good cookbooks have been written in recent years that cater to a wide variety of food restrictions. For some people, offending foods can sometimes be added back into the diet over time and in moderation.

Live Right
Choose clean living: Common inhalants that cause allergic reactions include pollen, molds, dust mites, trees, animal dander, and chemicals. Indoor and outdoor air pollution may also be a factor in susceptible people. Smoking and exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke have been implicated in chronic nasal congestion and increased sinus congestion in some populations.

So when possible, consider your surroundings and look for ways to avoid exposure to irritants like smoke and toxic fumes. At home, remember that many of the most common allergens can be lurking in places you would not expect, such as your bedroom or under the kitchen sink. To cut down on household allergens try the following:

• Keep the humidity in your house below 50% to help prevent mites.
• Vacuum and mop regularly. (Have a non-allergic member of the household do the vacuuming, or wear a mask.)
• Choose chemical-free bedding.
• Cover your mattress and pillows with hypoallergenic coverings.
• Wash linens weekly in hot water.
• Replace heating filters regularly.
• Use natural cleaning products.
• Use natural cosmetics, soaps, and shampoos.
• Limit pet access to sleeping areas.

Soothe symptoms: Make an appointment with your healthcare provider or find an allergist to get tested for sensitivities and allergies and to explore possible treatments to reduce discomfort.

• Talk to your doctor to get some information on common medications. Antihistamines are typically used to help relieve sneezing, watery eyes, and runny nose, and decongestants are often used for nasal congestion. Sometimes nasal sprays are effective for hay fever symptoms.
• Where complete avoidance of irritants is not possible, desensitization techniques (immunotherapy, usually in the form of allergy shots) may be helpful.
• Controlled research has shown that nasal irrigation with warm water or saline may be helpful for reducing symptoms of sinus congestion.
• Probiotic supplements keep a healthy dose of good bacteria in the gut, which improves digestion. They may help control food allergies by aiding the intestinal tract in controlling the absorption of food allergens and by changing immune-system responses to foods.
• Proteolytic enzymes may reduce allergy symptoms triggered by partially undigested protein because they help to further break down undigested protein into sizes that are too small to cause allergic reactions.
• Vitamin C and flavonoids including quercetin can exert natural antihistamine effects and, therefore, may help ease allergic reactions caused by the release of histamine.

Think ahead: As you've probably already learned, paying attention to your body's reactions can help you head off allergy problems before they start. Some forethought will help you avoid getting caught off guard when you're out of your regular element:

• For dinner parties, weddings, and other social events that involve eating, inquire about making special arrangements to accommodate your food allergies.
• If you have animal allergies, find out if friends and family have pets that may affect you before visiting and plan accordingly.
• Hay fever sufferers should avoid open-air exercise and social events during the height of pollen season.

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Disclaimer: The information in this page was prepared by Aisle7 for educational purposes only; it is not intended to replace the advice of a doctor. Health claims are based on scientific studies (human, animal, or in vitro), clinical experience, or traditional usage. The results reported may not necessarily occur in all individuals. Consult your doctor, practitioner, and/or pharmacist for any health problem and before using any supplements or before making any changes in prescribed medications, diet, or exercise habits. Aisle7, Walmart, and Pierce Promotions make no representations concerning the information contained in this article and disclaim any liability for such information and the decisions you make based on such information.