Peanut Allergies: Tests for detecting it

If you have peanut allergy symptoms, you have to consult the doctor as soon as possible to avoid serious health problems. Usually your doctor will discuss with you about the signs and symptoms of the allergies such as your previous responses to peanuts or food items having peanuts, and whether any of your relations or family members have peanut allergies or disease like asthma. It is better to consult with an allergist to overcome these allergic reactions. Generally peanut allergies are diagnosed by two tests, they are

Skin prick test: In this test, your skin is prickled and showed to little amounts of proteins which are taken from peanuts to identify your skin response to the protein. If you're allergic to peanuts, your skin will develop a hive or raised bump at the area where the test is conducted. Usually allergy specialists have best equipments to perform this skin prick tests.

Blood test: This test is also known as radioallergosorbent test, or RAST. In this test, you can evaluate your immune system's reactions to peanuts and their products by calculating the quantity of certain antibodies in your blood, the antibodies are called as immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies. This test is done by taking the blood sample from the patient and it is sent to a lab, where the evidence of sensibility to peanuts is identified.