Everyone is either allergic to something or knows someone who suffers from allergies. Some allergies can be life-threatening (such as a severe peanut allergy), and others are fairly harmless, evoking symptoms such as sneezing, a runny nose, and mild itching.
What Causes Allergies
Allergies are caused when the immune system overreacts to a substance entering, or coming into contact with the body. These substances are known as allergens. Essentially, your immune system faultily recognises an allergen as a pathogen and reacts by releasing chemicals to fight off the allergen.
Depending on the severity and type of allergy, this reaction could be deadly. A deadly allergic reaction causes anaphylaxis. Once anaphylactic shock sets in, an epinephrine auto-injector is needed to combat the reaction. These severe allergic reactions are usually linked to certain medicines, insect venom, and food allergies.
Are Allergies a Dominant Gene?
Allergies can be inherited. This is not to say that your child will definitely inherit allergies if you have them, however, there is a higher chance that they might inherit a sensitivity or an allergy from their parents or grandparents. It also does not mean that your child will inherit the same allergy as you. It is rather that they inherit a predisposition to developing an allergic disease.
How to Test for Allergies
Allergies can be detected by a doctor performing a skin or a blood test. If one is testing for a mild allergy, a skin test will be sufficient; however, if one is testing for a severe allergy, then a blood test is advisable. Unfortunately, a DNA test for allergies has not yet been developed, but the future is promising.
How Sensitivities Can Affect Your Health
There is a difference between an allergy and a sensitivity. Allergies cause a severe reaction, whereas sensitivities cause a milder reaction in the body. There are DNA tests that can pick up food sensitivities. Such tests can detect genetic variations that cause salt sensitivities, lactose intolerance, dietary carbohydrate sensitivity, and much more.
By testing for such sensitivities, you can identify where you have susceptibility to certain diseases, and implement certain health strategies to avoid dealing with more severe consequences and diseases in the future.
At Geneway we are able to provide you with an at-home GENEWELL test, that can identify genetic variations that could cause health issues in the future. Contact us at Geneway to find out more about how you can safeguard your future.
