Egg allergies?

[cleoppa]

Hello,

My first set of chickens have just started laying and I've been enjoying their eggs.

However, I was recently reading a book. At one point, it said something to the effect that: "If you're not allergic to eggs, great, but be careful you don't eat too many and develop an allergy." huh.

I wonder if fresh, pastured eggs are less likely to cause an egg allergy to develop?
Or how common it really is to develop an egg allergy from eating too many eggs?

Any thoughts on egg allergies?

 

[CrazyChookz]

Never heard of this before, make sure the author is not just joking. I have eaten many eggs and never developed an allergy, and not one person I know is allergic to eggs.You shouldn't need to worry about this

 

[mickey328]

Our neighbor is severely allergic to eggs so it definitely does happen. The weird thing about allergies is that they can develop at any time; you can spend 40 years without one and then have one develop. If you have any tendency then exposure to too much could cause it to rear its ugly head. I'm thinking though that you'd have to eat an awful lot of eggs for that to happen!

 

[Caribear]

I've heard of egg allergies before, but I've never heard of the allergy being caused by over-exposure to eggs.

I have also heard that some people with allergies to chicken eggs can eat quail eggs instead. Not sure why, or if this applies to other types of poultry as well.

I would imagine that if you were going to eat large quantities of eggs, that fresh pastured eggs would be the way to go. I do sometimes wonder if people who have food allergies aren't actually allergic to something that the food was treated with before they bought it. Like maybe it's not the eggs, but the antibiotics the laying hens were on that causes problems. But that's just speculation, I could be completely wrong.

 

[cleoppa]

Here's what I know:
1. My parents have a dog extremely allergic to eggs, including raw eggs (I've heard that people allergic to eggs are often not allergic to raw eggs)
2. I developed... a sensitivity to avocados once when I was eating about two a day. Once I figured out what the problem was, I stopped eating avocados for maybe 6 months and the problem cleared up. Don't know if this would be called an allergy or not.

 

[donrae]

At one time I was eating at least 4 eggs a day. No allergies, no cholesterol problems, nada. Felt great.

I've heard this theory but really don't believe it. If overexposure to eggs resulted in allergies the entire Atkins/low-carb/Primal/Paleo community would be allergic. We eat LOTS of eggs.

And by the same token I should now be allergic to peanuts, growing up on pb&j at least daily. Nope, still eat peanuts and breathe just fine.

 

[cmtigger]

2. I developed... a sensitivity to avocados once when I was eating about two a day. Once I figured out what the problem was, I stopped eating avocados for maybe 6 months and the problem cleared up. Don't know if this would be called an allergy or not.

I have an allergy to apples. I just plain out stopped eating them. My allergy doctor has told me that can make the allergy worse, so this fall when my fruit is ripe, I'm to start eating a little bit every day and keep benedryl on hand if I break out in hives. (worst reaction I've had is hives and rashes, since my throat has never swelled, it's okay for me to do this, if my throat had swelled, it would just be a no apples ever thing.)

And it is true that allergies can develop at any time. I developed a dog allergy as an adult, it's a good thing I don't have a dog.

 

[Bunnylady]

Food allergies can come about in a number of ways. There can be a genetic component; if you have family members with certain allergies (peanut comes to mind), you might have a problem with those allergens as well. The allergic "trigger" is usually a protein. One theory about the acquired type of allergy involves a thing I've heard called "leaky gut syndrome". The idea is that proteins pass through the intestinal walls in a way that they shouldn't, and create an allergic response when they enter the bloodstream. With this scenario, the more you eat a particular protein, the more likely you will get enough of it leaking through to develop an allergy to it. One of the ways that people who are prone to food allergies manage their allergies is a rotation diet. With rotation diets, you eat foods that come from sources that are related (cruciferous vegetables, for example) on one day, and don't eat anything from that family for a few days to allow the potential response to die down before exposing yourself to that type of food again. Some people are able to reintroduce foods into their diets that they previously had to avoid, by not eating them too often. This is the very rough and simple description; this is a very complex issue.

 

[loraleaf]

I seem to have suddenly developed an allergy to eggs
Severe intestinal issues & pain when I use them in cooking even worse if I eat them straight and I had a bite of a meringue cookie a couple of days ago and my tongue started itching. We have yard chickens we feed them a non gmo non soy feed and they have about 3/4 of an acre yard to free range in...my husband says I should try store bought eggs before I go to the dr to make sure it's not some weird bacteria or something our birds have...but no one else in my family is having adverse effects and the meringue cookie was at a friends house with store bought eggs
Thoughts?

 

[Arielle]

Hello,

My first set of chickens have just started laying and I've been enjoying their eggs.

However, I was recently reading a book. At one point, it said something to the effect that: "If you're not allergic to eggs, great, but be careful you don't eat too many and develop an allergy." huh.

I wonder if fresh, pastured eggs are less likely to cause an egg allergy to develop?
Or how common it really is to develop an egg allergy from eating too many eggs?

Any thoughts on egg allergies?

Based on one book that I have read, and My own pwndering on the subject . . . .

Some food allergies go unrecognized, that they are very mild and we dont recognize the symptomas as food related. So clearly I'm not referring to the extreme reactions in which an epi pen is needed.

A suspect food can be tested by removing that one food for 3 weeks, then add it back and see how you feel.

OVerall what I figured out is that long ago when our bodies were living off the land we rarely got to eat the same food day in and day out for weeks or months at a time. All the plants are seasonal. Eggs were seasonal. ANd eggs were hard to come by-- and again seasonal. Fast forward from hunter gatherer to farmer based food supply. For the last 10,000 years ( depending on your heritage of course) we have been planting crops and feeding livestock making a specific food available longer: corn, squash, eggs, beef, chickens. THen in the early 1900's refrigeration was added!! I could eat corn everyday for years if I wanted to, or any other food for that matter. I have started to think more on the amount of cows milk we consume as children and cow cheeses--- should we be eating cow milk every day? I don't have an answer, but I sure think some people develop issues because of the daily consumption. ANyway . . .

What I learned in reading that book, was alter the foods we eat. Limiting consumption to about 2 weeks, then stop for a couple weeks. As I pondered this, I realized witht he huge varieties of foods available to day because of increased interest in unusual foods, our markets are loaded with flown in foods from around the world.

In the last few years I have tried new foods: gooseberries and prickly pear. ANd my meats vary: duck, turkey, chicken, chicken eggs, duck eggs, turkey eggs, beef, lamb, pork. Some fish. And shellfish and clams.

Allergies are usually triggered by proteins--- long story there so I will skip that --- decrease the bodies exposure to the same proteins over and over. Mix it up. Eat a food for a few weeks than drop it for a few weeks. Or change the source: Some people can eat duck eggs when they have an allergy to chicken eggs.

IMO anything in this direction will be helpful to prevent allergies. ANd for those that can ID a specific source, decide if life is better without ever eating it, or if eating small amounts occassionally will work. Every body is unique.

As for the organic issue-- I'm all for moving that direction. Our foods absorb the chemicals they are in contact with. THe levels might be minute but IMO I think they ARE there.

Rice and mercury( or was it lead?) has been a recent issue-- it contains far more than we realized. . . . .

I know I go to great lengths to protect my land from contamination. . . . . we do need to rethink our food supply.