What foods to eat to fight allergies

At present, there is no "magic food" that can directly fight allergies. When an allergy attacks, don't rely on eating. The right way is to give priority to taking antihistamines according to the doctor's advice. Only some foods can help reduce the frequency of allergic attacks and alleviate mild symptoms by regulating the immune state. Individual differences are huge, and what works for others may not work at all for you.

I used to have an old patient who suffered from allergic rhinitis for five or six years. In previous years, when the poplar trees bloomed in spring, he had to wear two layers of masks when going out. Otherwise, he would sneeze more than a dozen times in a row and blow his nose until it was all broken. Last year, following the advice of a nutritionist, I added two things to my daily diet: I eat a handful of raw peanuts with red skin every day and drink a cup of unsweetened live culture Greek yogurt every other day. I have persisted for half a year. This spring, the number of attacks has been reduced by more than half. Even if I accidentally get some poplar catkins, I just need to sneeze twice and it will be over. I will not be as uncomfortable as before for a whole day.

But don’t just copy this recipe blindly. I have also met people who have tried this method, and there has been no change after taking it for two months. There are also people who heard that Omega-3 in deep-sea fish can fight inflammation and allergies, but they were allergic to seafood and still ate it. As a result, they broke out in hives and went to the hospital. At present, academic circles are not completely unified in their conclusions on food-assisted anti-allergy. For example, some people say that high-antioxidant foods such as grape seed extract and acerola cherries are effective. There is also a large sample of clinical data showing that such supplements have no significant improvement effect on nearly 60% of people with allergies. The controversy is quite large.

To be honest, you must remember the main prerequisite for eating this kind of food: you must not be allergic to it. If you are intolerant to ingredients such as nuts, dairy products, and seafood, don’t touch it even if it is awesome. In fact, the principle of how these ingredients work is not complicated. The probiotics, flavonoids, and Omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids contained in them can, to put it bluntly, "cool down" the overly "excited" immune system and prevent it from attacking harmless foreign objects such as pollen and dust mites. This will naturally reduce the discomfort of allergies, but it does not directly block allergens from the body.

Not long ago, I met a little girl in the dermatology clinic. I heard that vitamin C can fight allergies. She ate lemons, kiwis, and drank lemon water for a week. However, the allergy didn't go away. She had acid reflux in her stomach after eating it. Lemons are photosensitive foods. She didn't wear sunscreen after drinking during the day, and she developed a patch of solar dermatitis on her face. It was not worth the loss. Don’t overestimate the effects of these foods. At best, they are auxiliary items for daily conditioning of the body, and they absolutely cannot replace drugs.

We don’t need to go out of our way to buy ridiculously expensive anti-allergic functional foods when adjusting our daily diet. If we don’t have food allergies, we usually eat more dark green leafy vegetables, seasonal berries such as blueberries and strawberries, and eat deep-sea fish such as salmon and mackerel once or twice a week. When choosing yogurt, choose a non-additive type with a high count of viable bacteria. Just try it slowly and find a rhythm that suits you. After all, everyone’s immune status is different, and the one that suits you is the best.