In our article today, we will find out if tea can cause allergies.
One of the most popular drinks on Earth is tea, which has been familiar to people for several millennia. In ancient times, it was often used as a medicine. At present, its mass production has been established - tea bushes are grown on plantations, leaves are manually harvested, sorted according to special criteria, while there are many types of tea, divided depending on the area of cultivation, the degree of oxidation and the method of processing.
This drink is one of the safest, but the appearance of negative reactions associated with its use cannot be ruled out. Unfortunately, tea allergies are not mythical.
This reaction is increasingly common in both children and adults, it happens including in infants. What are the causes and treatments in this case? The answer will be given in the article below.
Can tea be allergic?
Let's try to understand this issue.
Every food can cause allergies. Tea in this sense is no exception. True, such cases are quite rare, because it is not for nothing that this drink is allowed in most diets.
With an extremely violent reaction of the body to tea brewing, in most cases, such a symptom is caused by a specific protein that is part of the plant. It's called F222.
However, you need to remember that there is very little "pure" tea on sale now, the use of flavoring and aromatic additives, which can also cause allergies, is widespread. Various herbs added to tea are also very strong allergens.
Tea bags often contain synthetic fibers, they are also unsafe for human he alth.
Causes of this pathology
It is necessary to sum up a little about the causes of tea allergy. Allergens in this case can be: flavors; protein F222; flavoring additives; dyes; herbal supplements; fungus (when tea has expired); synthetic fibers.
In addition, there may be individual intolerance to the chemicals that make up the drink, a hereditary predisposition to this type of allergy and disease in which tea has a negative effect. In the latter cases, the symptoms are very similar to an allergic reaction, it is easy to confuse them.
Manifestations of this type of allergic reaction of the body
Because black tea has become one of the mosthabitual drinks for any person, then few people think of suspecting him of causing allergies. People often take antihistamines with their favorite drink.
Tea allergy symptoms are not too different from other types of allergic reactions:
- redness and itching of the skin;
- rash;
- dermatitis;
- diarrhea (disordered stool);
- headache;
- runny nose;
- excessive tearing;
- cough, sneeze;
- suffocating attacks.
These symptoms most often do not appear immediately after a cup of drink, but after a certain time, for example, after two or three days.
Who else might be allergic to tea?
Baby symptoms
In a baby, an allergy to any kind of tea occurs when the mother consumes this drink. If a rash appears on the body and digestive pathology, women look for the cause in other foods. Tea is rarely suspect.
However, with the exclusion of the most allergenic foods and the absence of a he althy state of the child, it may be worth giving up a fragrant drink for a while and replacing it with compotes or milk.
Allergy to tea in children of the first months of life may appear in the form of the following symptoms:
- rashes appear on the hands, face and cheeks; the rash may later spread throughout the child's body;
- due to an allergic rash, itching occurs, which leads toirritability and whims of the baby;
- digestion problems: the child has colic, bloating, you can notice that there is a frothy stool;
- In children of the first year of life, an allergy to a tea drink is less likely to manifest respiratory symptoms.
Signs of an allergic reaction in an older child
How does an older child develop an allergy to tea?
An older baby, when he can already drink tea on his own, may not immediately develop intolerance to tea leaves. This usually happens when children drink a drink with flavorings, herbs and other additives. Pathology is manifested by cough, rhinoconjunctivitis, sore throat. The skin is affected, spots, blisters and pimples appear on it. An older child may complain of headache, lethargy, and digestive discomfort.
Parents may notice that the baby starts running to the toilet more often, he develops apathy and irritability.
Lack of treatment often causes skin changes to develop into dermatitis that is difficult to treat.
For the correct diagnosis of the disease, the active participation of the patient is necessary, since some methods are based on his ability to follow the instructions of a specialist with accuracy, personal responsibility.
Diary of observation for this pathology
This method involves keeping a detailed "food diary" for the patient during the period that the doctor sets. Tofor example, he may appoint to do this within a month.
A list of everything drunk and eaten during this time, as well as information about the reaction of the body to foods, should be recorded in this diary.
An allergist will analyze the records, draw conclusions about which foods should be excluded from the menu due to allergies.
Provocation test, elimination diet
This is a rather painstaking process, always carried out under medical supervision. First, a potentially dangerous product should be excluded from the menu. When a certain time passes, during which this product is completely eliminated from the body, the specialist includes a reaction drink or dish in the patient and observes the consequences.
Then another product is studied and so on until the picture of what the patient can and cannot do is finalized.
The analysis is carried out in the laboratory, includes an injection test and a blood test. The patient is injected subcutaneously with various allergens.
Treatment
So, we found out that there is an allergy to tea.
When diagnosing one or another allergic symptom, you need to remove the allergen from your diet. If there is an exact certainty that tea has become the culprit, you should stop drinking it, switch to clean, plain water. In general, drinking large amounts of purified water is beneficial for all types of food allergies. Thanks to water, the body will quickly get rid of allergens and toxins.
If you are unsure about the allergen, it's time to contact a specialist and get tested forallergy tests to determine your body's response to the most common allergens.
If it is impossible to see a doctor and you have allergic symptoms, you must purchase at least the simplest antihistamines Claritin and Suprastin at the pharmacy. They will eliminate unpleasant symptoms in a short time.
If you are too allergic to black tea, when swelling or choking makes it hard to breathe, you need to urgently call an ambulance.
Medicated treatment
A patient who has been diagnosed with an allergy is prescribed medication. Among them:
- sorbents and blood purifiers ("Polysorb", "Smekta");
- antihistamines ("Fenistil", "Claritin");
- glucocorticosteroids ("Prednisolone");
- immune boosting vitamins;
- drugs against conjunctivitis and runny nose ("Opatanol", "Nazivin");
- ointments for healing skin integuments ("Bepanten", "Solcoseryl").
Healing teas
Can I have tea with allergies?
In the form of a therapeutic agent, herbal preparations and monoteas, which have antihistamine properties, are used.
Camomile tea is most often prescribed as mono tea, the fee includes:
- to remove the allergen - St. John's wort, mint, rowan fruits, strawberries;
- remove swelling of mucous membranes - dandelion roots;
- maintenance of immunity - stevia leaves.
When selecting herbs, the specialist must make sure that none of the recommendedis not an allergen for the patient.
There are also allergies to green tea.
What to do if green tea causes allergies
In our country, there are not many lovers of green tea compared to black, green varieties with additives that are dangerous to he alth are less common. However, allergic symptoms and treatments are similar here.
It is worth considering that when choosing an antihistamine in a pharmacy, preference should be given to those with the simplest composition. They are not inferior in efficiency to multicomponent ones, but they have much fewer side effects.
You should also pay attention to drugs for the symptomatic treatment of allergies. For example, with an allergic rhinitis, the use of nasal drops will help, with tearing and pain in the eyes - eye drops ("Kromoheksal", "Allergodil", "Opatanol").
Prevention
Despite the fact that tea is a fairly safe drink, it is still not recommended to abuse it.
When a person is a connoisseur and fan of tea, he should choose expensive varieties without any additives.
To add taste to the drink, you can add natural berries or a lemon slice yourself if you are not allergic to these products.
When buying bulk or bagged tea, you need to look at its expiration date. Expired product should be discarded or used for non-food purposes.
Do not brewtoo strong tea: the so-called chifir is unhe althy and can destroy even the strongest organism.
