In our article today, we’ll 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, mass production has been established - tea bushes are grown on the plantations, manually picked leaves, sorted according to special criteria, while there are many types of tea that are divided depending on the growing area, oxidation state and processing method.
This drink is one of the safest, but the occurrence of negative reactions associated with its use cannot be ruled out. Unfortunately, the occurrence of tea allergies is not mythical.
This reaction is increasingly common in 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 an allergic reaction to tea occur ?
Let's try to understand this issue.
Every food product 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, this symptom causes a specific protein, which is part of the plant. It is called F222.
However, it must be remembered that now there is very little “pure” tea on sale, the use of flavoring and aromatic additives, which can also cause allergies, is widespread. Very strong allergens are also various herbs added to tea.
Often synthetic fibers are present in tea bags , they are also unsafe for human health.
The causes of this pathology
Small results should be summarized regarding the causes of allergies to tea. In this case, allergens can be: flavorings; protein F222; flavoring additives; dyes; herbal supplements; fungus (with expired tea); synthetic fibers.
In addition, there may be an individual intolerance to the chemicals included in 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, you can easily confuse them.
Manifestations of this type of allergic reaction of the body
Since black tea has become one of the most familiar drinks for any person, few people come to suspect him of causing allergies. People often take antihistamines and drink them with their favorite drink.
Symptom allergy to tea is not too different from other types of allergic reactions:
- redness and itching of the skin;
- rash;
- dermatitis;
- diarrhea (stool disorder);
- headache;
- runny nose;
- excessive tearing;
- coughing, sneezing;
- asphyxiation 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 may have a tea allergy?
Symptoms in a baby
Infants are allergic to any type of tea when their mother drinks this drink. If a rash appears on the body and digestive pathology, women seek the cause in other foods. Tea is rarely under suspicion.
However, with the exclusion of the most allergenic foods and the absence of a healthy condition for the child, it may be worth giving up a fragrant drink for a while and replacing it with compotes or milk.
Tea allergy in children in the first months of life may appear in the form of the following symptoms:
- rashes appear on the hands, face and cheeks; the rash can later spread in the child throughout the body;
- due to an allergic rash, itching occurs, which leads to the irritability and whims of the baby;
- digestive problems: the child has colic, bloating, you can pay attention that there is a foamy stool;
- in children of the first year of life, allergies to a tea drink are less likely to be manifested by respiratory symptoms.
Signs of an allergic reaction in an older child
How is an allergy to tea in an older child?
An older baby, when he can already drink tea on his own, may not immediately appear intolerance to tea leaves. This usually happens when children drink a drink with flavors, 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, digestive discomfort.
Parents may notice that the baby often starts to run to the toilet, he appears apathy and irritability.
The lack of treatment often leads to the fact that skin changes develop into dermatitis, which are difficult to treat.
For the correct diagnosis of an ailment, the active participation of the patient is necessary, since some methods are based on his ability to follow the instructions of a specialist and personal responsibility with accuracy.
Observation diary for this pathology
This method involves the detailed management of the patient "food diary" during the period that the doctor will establish. For example, he may appoint to do this for a month.
A list of everything drunk and eaten during this time, as well as information about what kind of reaction the body has to foods, should be recorded in this diary.
An allergist specialist will analyze the records, make conclusions about which products should be excluded from the menu due to allergies.
Provocative 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 monitors the consequences.
Then another product is studied, and so on, until the picture of what the patient can and cannot do is final.
The analysis is carried out in the laboratory, includes an injection test and a blood test. Various allergens are administered subcutaneously to the patient.
Treatment
So, we found out that there is an allergy to tea.
When diagnosing certain allergic symptoms, you need to remove the allergen from your diet. If there is an exact certainty that tea became the fault, 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 of the allergen, it's time to consult a specialist and take an allergy test to determine the reaction of your body to the most common allergens.
If it is impossible to see a doctor and if you have allergic symptoms, you must purchase at least the simplest antihistamines Claritin and Suprastin from the pharmacy. They will eliminate unpleasant symptoms in a short time.
If you are too allergic to black tea, when it becomes difficult to breathe from swelling or suffocation, you need to urgently call an ambulance.
Drug treatment
A patient who has been diagnosed with an allergy is prescribed medication. Among them:
- sorbents and blood purifiers (Polysorb, Smecta);
- antihistamines (Fenistil, Claritin);
- glucocorticosteroids (Prednisolone);
- vitamins that help strengthen immunity;
- preparations against conjunctivitis and a runny nose ("Opatanol", "Nazivin");
- ointments for healing skin integuments (“Bepanten”, “Solcoseryl”).
Healing teas
Is tea suitable for allergies?
In the form of a medicinal product, they use herbal preparations and single glasses, which differ in antihistamine properties.
Chamomile tea is most often prescribed as a monochaya; the fees include:
- to remove the allergen - St. John's wort, mint, rowan fruits, strawberries;
- relieve swelling of the mucous membranes - dandelion roots;
- maintaining immunity - stevia leaves.
When choosing herbs, the specialist must make sure that none of the recommended allergens for the patient is.
There is an allergy to green tea.
What to do if green tea causes allergies
In our country, there are not many lovers of green tea in comparison with black tea, green varieties with additives that are hazardous to health are less common. However, allergic symptoms and treatment methods are similar here.
It is worth considering that when choosing an antihistamine drug in a pharmacy, preference should be given to those with the simplest composition. They are not inferior in effectiveness to multicomponent ones, but they have much less 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 (Cromohexal, Allergodil, Opatanol).
Prevention
Although 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 must choose expensive varieties without any additives.
To add flavor to the drink, you can add yourself natural berries or a lemon slice in the absence of allergy to these products.
When buying bulk or packaged tea, you need to look at its expiration date. An expired product should be discarded or the tea leaves used for non-food purposes.
You must not brew too strong tea: the so-called chifir is harmful to health and can destroy even the strongest organism.