Allergy Free

The key to an allergy-free diet is to avoid feeding your child the foods or products containing the food he/she is allergic to. The items that your child is allergic to are called allergens. Many common allergens are used as food additives and may cause food sensitivity reactions. Parents of children with known food allergies may not find it difficult to eliminate visible allergens, but may not be aware of the variety of food products that contain allergens. In order to eliminate foods that contain allergens, it is important to read food labels. Because food is prepared from a variety of sources and from a variety of ethnic associations, food allergens have a variety of names and terms associated with them. Learning these terms will help you avoid food allergens. The following guidelines should serve as a general resource for food allergen avoidance. These guidelines should not replace common sense. If you think something could possibly contain an allergen, DO NOT EAT IT!

Over 43 million Americans have some degree of food intolerance.

Food Allergies

Allergens are substances that cause our personal immunity system to react as though a threatening foreign substance, like bacteria, had entered our body. To fight against a threatening substance the body releases histamines and other powerful chemicals. The release of these chemicals trigger symptoms of an allergic reaction, which can range from hives to deadly anaphylaxis. So what is to many people innocent and harmless food proteins such as peanuts, milk, gluten, etc., to us could be recognized by our immune system as threatening.

An allergy may manifest itself in various target organs, meaning sites where allergy signs occur. These are usually one or more of four places: the skin, the intestines, the respiratory passages, and the brain, i.e., (behavior changes).

Food Intolerances

Food intolerance means that a food upsets your intestines, yet does not bother any other organ. The intestines may be oversensitive to certain foods, resulting in abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, and bloating. Intolerance is usually a reaction to the protein content of a food, yet you could be intolerant to any part of the food, including ingredients and/or additives.

Cautions:

You should always see your doctor to verify food diets and to avoid of allergenic foods.

Preservative Free Food

Our purpose is to accumulate tens of thousands preservative free and other allergy free foods. Preservative Free = Foods without any preservatives.The following groups represent preservatives that often cause allergy problems. They are assigned to only five groups so that the database may be workable. Find the preservative you are allergic to and then note the group name at the top of the table. When making searches for what you can eat, identify the group, for example "ColorFree."

MSGGultcFree

"Glut" and "Gluc"
calcium diglutamate
calcium gluconate
ferrous gluconate
glutamic acid
magnesium diglutamate
monoammonium glutamate
monopotassium glutamate
potassium gluconate
sodium gluconate

SulphiFree

Sulphites (not sulphates) and sulphur dioxide and acid

calcium bisulphite
calcium sulphite
potassium bisulphite
potassium metabisulphite
potassium sulphite
sodium hydrogen sulphite
sodium metabisulphite
sodium sulphite
sulphur dioxide
sulphuric acid

BenzParaFree

"Benz" or Benzoates
benzoic acid
benzoyl peroxide
calcium benzoate
ethyl p-hydroxybenzoate
heptyl p-hydroxybenzoate
potassium benzoate
sodium benzoate

"Para"
methylparaben
paraffins
propylparaben

CarmNitrEthylFree

Nitrates
potassium nitrate
sodium nitrate

Ethyl
sodium ethyl
propyl sodium ethyl
erythrosine
ethyl p-hydroxybenzoate

Carmines & other
carmoisine
azorubine
cochineal
indigo carmine

ColorFree