Question: why are some people allergic to things?

Lilian Hunt answered on 11 Mar 2014:

If you are allergic to something it basically means that your body believes it is bad and will try and fight it off if it comes into contact with this thing. It is an adverse reaction that the body has to a type of food or something in the environment, like pollen. The body’s response is to fight off this substance as if it were a threat to the body, even though it may be harmless. This immune response gets bigger the next time you encounter the same substance (known as an allergen). Nearly 1 in 4 of us will be allergic to something in our lifetime and the exact reasons aren’t clear.

Sometimes allergies run in the family because you may have a gene mutation that causes you to produce more antibodies than normal. It is the antibodies that are responsible for your body’s immune reaction of fighting off the allergen. Other then that, people believe that what you experience in the environment may cause you to get or not get an allergy. Studies have shown that if you are brought up in a house with smokers, for example, you are more likely to develop allergies then someone who isn’t.

The different symptoms you get also depend on what it is you are allergic to. If you are allergic to pollen, when you inhale it this can cause breathing problems whereas if you are allergic to a material you come up in a rash when you touch it. This is because this is how your body first came in contact with the allergen.