Your favorite allergies

 

So I was debating on the ingredients of my favorite foods: "Contains wheat, soy, etc."  And I wondered about what the most common food allergies- and the least- were.  One thing I learned is, there is little agreement on details, but the top eight are pretty well universally agreed on.  Here, in order of how devastating they would be to my diet, are the big eight:

8: Peanuts

I am not a peanut fan.  I could gleefully pass through life if they were the most poisonous thing on earth.

7: Shellfish

One site says this is the most common food allergy, with 2% + of the population affected.  If this includes shrimp, it may go higher on the Chris scale.

6: Tree nuts

I only get them in occasional candy bars.  Still pretty much in the 'annoyance range.'

5- Fish

Okay, now you're starting to get personal, but I could overcome.

4- Eggs

Here's where I would be up into the 'anger' range of the scale.  I suppose I could make 'egg beaters' work, but only with loud grumblings.

3- Soy

I didn't bother to ask whether this included soybean oil when I ranked my list; it does NOT.  Therefore, consider this between shellfish and tree nuts, with everyone moving up accordingly.

2- Wheat

Now we have moved into 'Armageddon' status.  The dietary equivalent of taking my legs.

1- Milk

Well, wasn't that fun?  BTW, I want to state right now I am not trying to make fun of those with these, or any other, allergies.  I can't imagine having to keep an eye out for these items on ingredient lists; I was ready to run through a wall just trying to lower sodium!  Anyway, the term "least allergic" is pretty much a moving target, so instead I ended up with a list of "some of the rarer allergies".  Once again, ranked in order of how they would mess up my life...

8- Mangos

Since this is roughly in my "not even if it was the only food on earth" list, I'd say I'm safe here.

7- Avocados

Or here, with an entry from my "Never tried, no big desire to" file.

6- Marshmallows

Since I'm trying to be good on my "no excess sugar" diet, these are a no-no anyway.

5- Dried fruit

Good news is, I haven't had any in a while.  Bad news, I do like raisins and dried blueberries.

4- Corn

Again, this would rate on the high end of the annoyance scale.  My favorite is creamed corn, and that's another sugar casualty.

3- Hot dogs

Oh, come on, now.  I guess there WAS more room at the high end of 'annoyance'.

2- Sesame seeds.  I challenge this entry, since it was also on one list of 'most triggering'.  Is it uncommon or not?  Either way, I think I would just eat 'em and take my chances.

1- Red meat

The only "armageddon" level event on this list, though I have cut back considerably.  In my 30's, I'd have just swallowed a handful of raw hamburger and let the dice fall where they may.

The FDA says there are some 160 foods that might have an allergic reaction.  Of, course, they also make sesame the 9th big allergen, blowing holes in my "uncommon" list.  So maybe remove sesame from that list and add in bananas, which Dr Edward Salko on Personalabs says is the rarest food allergy.  He also adds to that list gelatin and coconut, another food that I would gleefully kick to the curb.  I also saw another "uncommon list that included beef, lamb, pork, and ham, but being on the McLain Meats website, I wonder about bias.

Thankfully, beer allergies make the rare list. I'll need one after this!