Animal protein allergies

A food allergy is when the body’s immune system is triggered to produce an abnormal response upon the ingestion of certain foods. These responses can range from the annoying, like an itchy mouth or hives, to the more troubling and sometimes life-threatening, like vomiting, diarrhea, trouble breathing and tightening in the throat, and drop in blood pressure.

About 5 percent of the U.S. population has food allergies, and 90 percent of all food allergies are due to these eight foods:

• tree nuts
• peanuts
• milk
• egg
• fish
• shellfish
• wheat
• soy

While children often grow out of their milk and egg allergies, these and other allergies can persist into adulthood. For adults engaged in fitness who require a lot of protein for muscle-building, this can be difficult to do with allergies to animal proteins like milk, eggs, shellfish and fish. For example, people with milk allergies cannot enjoy traditional protein shakes made with whey and casein, which are two proteins from milk. Soy is another very common cause of allergies that can make things difficult because soy is in so many of our foods today.

However, if you are allergic to one or more animal products or soy, this doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a protein shake. Instead of whey or soy protein powders, choose one made of other vegetable proteins. Naturade offers two excellent dairy- and soy-free options, including VeganSmart All-In-One Nutritional Shake and Naturade Pea Protein.

VeganSmart is all-natural and gluten-free. It contains 20 grams of non-GMO protein, 6 grams of dietary fiber, probiotics, heart-healthy omega-3s and 22 vitamins and minerals.

Naturade’s Pea Protein gets its protein boost from yellow split peas, which are also an excellent source of fiber. It is gluten-, cholesterol- and GMO-free and contains nothing artificial.