Gut health and intolerances have come into sharper focus in recent years for people trying to get a handle on their health.
While things are starting to improve for sufferers, allergies still pose a very real issue for almost half of Brits, with Allergy Awareness Week set to bring attention to the severity of allergies.
Many of us get the sniffles when pollen increases, but others have a much stronger reaction resulting in anaphylaxis when in contact with an allergen.
Julianne Ponan is one of the unlucky ones who suffers from a variety of allergies, including to chickpeas, dairy and all nuts, some of which are airborne reactions.
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The 33-year-old told The Mirror how she was tucking into an ice cream brand she has loved for over 20 years, but ended up in anaphylactic shock.
"They had only just changed their labelling to 'may contain', I didn't realise at all so I ate it," she said. "After two bites my whole face completely swelled up and I couldn't breathe - it was pretty bad."
When faced with a reaction, known as anaphylactic shock, those with severe allergies will use an auto-injector filled with adrenaline or epinephrine to counter the effects of the anaphylaxis.
Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction, where the patient's throat can close up along with other swellings and heart issues - which can ultimately cause death.
To protect against this, "May contain" is a common warning on foods, flagging that the product could have allergens such as nuts, dairy or shellfish. It can mean anything from the food being made from those ingredients to simply being packaged in the same warehouse.
Julianne never risks eating food if it says may contain as some of her allergies are airborne, this can even cause issues in public spaces like buses and planes.
She said: "It creates a lot of anxiety in public places. I think it's become worse recently, because I had an allergy at an event and they didn't have a first aid responder on site.
"So they asked me to walk down the road to the pharmacist, I couldn't breathe by the time I got there. Luckily they managed to catch it in time and rushed me to hospital.
"That was not from eating, that was from just being at an event where they were serving chickpeas but I wasn't told that at the time."
At just two-years-old, her allergies were discovered when Julianne innocently ate a cookie at nursery - she was soon unable to breathe and rushed to intensive care. This particular reaction was caused by a peanut but she was tested for other allergens too.
Over time the founder of Creative Nature, which makes foods which are top 14 allergen free, discovered she was allergic to a variety of foods - including dairy, all nuts, sesame, chickpeas, lentils.
Julianne, from Surrey, said: "I found out about more and more as I grew up and started trying more foods. That was quite scary for my mum in particular because we've never had allergies in our family at all.
"She didn't really understand what it was. My mum's from Kenya and my dad from Guyana, sometimes ethnic families don't really understand allergies as much or they believe that it doesn't exist.
"Family members would say 'Just give her a little bit more it'll be absolutely fine'. Obviously, that wasn't the case, my allergies are quite severe."
Beyond her family, Julianne faced isolation at school as teachers would sit her on her own table at lunch to eat alone. This had a knock on effect that peers and their parents would exclude her.
The 33-year-old said: "Birthday parties for me were always an issue growing up, mum would not allow me to go and I used to get really upset. I think it was maybe because she didn't want to cause a burden to the parents.
"I found out more recently when mum said 'well actually, you were asked not to go' but they hid that from me. To know that parents would actively not want to have you there makes you feel really segregated.
"I understand it's a risk but it's really isolating and it creates a more bullying environment."
Isolating kids with allergies means youngsters often don't learn about them from peers or in school, which leads to misinformation or ignorance. Allergies are sometimes conflated with intolerances, which can be painful but do not result in anaphylaxis, which Julianne sees as part of the problem.
She explained how she conducted a high street survey and found that half of people didn't know what an auto-injector was and some thought anaphylaxis was a "stomach bug".
"It's not spoken about enough at all," Julianne said. "I think we need to get more awareness on using auto-injectors and noticing the signs. Knowing those things and knowing them early - that could save your friend's life so easily."
Thanks to her efforts in raising awareness around allergies, Julianne has since been awarded an MBE for her work in allergy education.
Now, she is rolling out an allergy awareness workshop for schools to tackle misinformation and inform students how to use an auto-injector if someone goes into anaphylaxis.
The 33-year-old said: "Something like this can save lives. It can stop bullying, it can really help more inclusivity. So if we could just introduce a small one day workshop one day assembly in the year, it would make such a difference.
"I think we need more corporations to get on board, there needs to be a complete overhaul in the grocery sector. For free form, it shouldn't be just a lifestyle.
"This is something that isn't a choice and we need to be pioneering something that caters for multiple allergies."
She added: "Be vigilant, be open to learning about allergies and understanding what they actually mean and how an intense reaction to food can be quite quick and quite serious."
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