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Can eating too much of the same food cause an allergy or autoimmune response?
Hi! Thank you for your question about the causation between frequent food consumption and the development of allergies. The short version is that no, you cannot develop allergies towards foods that you eat often. However, food intolerance is a common side effect to frequent consumption of a certain food. I did find some interesting information about the frequent consumption of eggs that you might find interesting. Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
METHODOLOGY
I started my research by searching through Google Scholar, to no avail. I was unable to find any medical studies specifically on the implications that eating a particular food every day could lead to food allergies. Therefore, I turned my focus to Google where I came across a vast amount of articles to use for the basis of my findings. Further, I searched for the implications with the frequent consumption of eggs, since that is your primary concern.
ALLERGIES
The American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology very simply states on their website that no, there is no known relationship between the consumption of large quantities of a particular food and your body’s development of an allergy towards that food. However, on a website dedicated to food allergies, they report that adults can develop food allergies to certain foods later in life due to an immune response. That likelihood is small, they report a mere 3% of adults develop a true food allergy.
INTOLERANCE
Unfortunately, food intolerance is a real issue that may arise with the frequent consumption of a particular food. Food intolerance is different from a food allergy as it is often less severe, it does not cause allergic reactions, it is not life threatening, and you must consume a lot more of the food to develop the symptoms associated with intolerance. Should a food intolerance develop, there are ways to determine which food is causing the issue and even gradually reintroduce the food back into your diet without further causing the intolerant symptoms. One study found that you should cut out the food causing the negative symptoms only long enough for the symptoms to improve- typically 3 to 4 weeks. They then suggest that you slowly reintroduce the food into your diet to rebuild individual tolerance to that food.
EGGS
There have been many myths about the negative consequences associated with egg consumption from high cholesterol levels to higher risk of heart disease. I am proud to report that these myths are not based on recent research. An Australian clinical study by CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) found that eating two eggs a day increased a person’s good cholesterol and had no adverse affects on the bad cholesterol. Further, Harvard’s School of Public Health reported that eggs contain nutrients that may actually help to lower the risk of heart disease. They do however caution that a large quantity of eggs may not be ideal for your health. An egg a day is said to be generally safe for your heart health, but increasing consumption may cause risk for heart failure in the future.
CONCULSION
To wrap it up, there have been no medical findings that state eating a certain food regularly will cause you to develop an allergy to that food. You should be cautious about the development of food intolerance but there are ways to combat that, if it is to occur. Thank you for using Wonder! Please let us know if we can help with anything else!