Lots of people outgrow their food allergies.
Many people avoid foods to which their allergies are long gone, experts say, and many allergies disappear by the age of four.
The reason is not known, but many immune conditions are outgrown with time, possibly because the immune system needs time to mature.
Actually, only a minority of the people who think they have a food allergy are truly allergic.
Many more have sensitivities, like the common one to lactose, the sugar in milk, which many people lack the enzyme to digest.
In the case of a true allergy, the reaction is inflammatory in nature and is perpetuated by constant exposure, injuring tissues more and more, so total avoidance early in life, at least in the case of food allergy, seems to make symptoms grow less severe.
There is a relationship between the severity of symptoms and whether a person will eventually outgrow the allergy.
When the child reacts with anaphylaxis, the release of substances that affect muscle, leading to shock and constricted breathing, the chances of outgrowing the allergy are extremely remote.
But if a child who reacts to eggs or soybeans with eczema or diarrhea avoids the food, there is a good chance of improvement.
