Allergy To Corn:
A Common Kitchen Staple
Goes And Attacks
Could an allergy to corn be behind all those unexplainable symptoms when you thought you were having healthy snacks?
Many doctors don't even recognize corn as a potential allergen for a lot of individuals. All the unexplained symptoms common to a corn allergy are often different than most food allergies.
People will often show a few of the normal symptoms such as swelling, hives and difficulty breathing but an allergy to corn also has its own set of food allergy symptoms. These could include:
- difficulty sleeping
- continuous headaches/migraines
- muscle and joints soreness, tiredness or pain
- behavioral changes ( extreme anger issues or even depression)
A corn allergy is often severe enough to lead to the concerns of anaphylaxis for many patients also.
The Road To Diagnosis
Having an allergy to corn is usually a
long list of doctor's appointments (often more than one until your problem is resolved), test after test to research and an unending process of elimination to find the exact cause of symptoms. Often the list of unusual symptoms does not suggest a food allergy to most doctor's so a
food allergy test is almost always at the end of their list of possibilities.
After a round of negative skin prick test(s), which are often inconclusive, an elimination diet is the next common step to a possible diagnosis. Usually testing is started by eliminating dairy, egg, gluten and soy plus any of the other major allergens on a rotating basis is normal, many times the patient will have an increase in the severity of their symptoms.
This change is what usually signifies the culprit which is causing the problem for your doctor.
You see, as people remove gluten and wheat products from their diet, they generally lean more on potato, corn and rice as the new staple. It usually turns out the extra corn products are responsible for the increase in symptoms.
Another unusual aspect to corn which makes a diagnosis difficult, time and trial and error situations has shown many individuals can tolerate some corn products but not others.
Corn sweeteners often set off many people but eating a can of corn is fine. Using corn flour, corn starch etc. in cooking and baking is fine but give them a piece of corn on the cob and an allergic reaction has been staged. The use of dusting powder (such as baby powder) could be OK but that bottle of body lotion is not. These types of unexplainable scenarios seem to happen often with a corn allergy.
All of these types of diagnosing is not an at-home therapy program though. The threat of a severe reaction is too great.
The Road Ahead Without Corn
The hardest part with an allergy to corn comes
in the first few days after diagnosis. This is when you start learning when and where corn is in your daily routine.
While you think learning how to avoid corn in your daily diet is pretty obvious, in some instances the food processing industry uses many sources like dextrose, fructose, maltodextrin plus others. Many different food additives are corn-based.
Add to this then the products you find in your home, such as the bathroom, your garage, the powder room, the office desk plus many other places all over the house. The list is long and cumbersome for anyone with an allergy to corn.
Right now a lack of medical and public awareness right along with the decision of the federal government not to make ingredient labeling mandatory for corn products is the biggest concern for the corn allergic.
Becoming a detective and sleuthing out the clues leads most people to the realization for their own health and safety, making all foods from scratch in their own home is the smartest way to find some corn free foods and corn free snacks.
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*Disclaimer*This site is not intended to replace the advice and supervision of your professional medical treatment plan. Although all of the information is true and accurate to the best of our knowledge, we still recommend you carefully check all food labels before consuming any food product. We can not assume any legal responsibility for any illness obtained while following the advice contained on this site.
