MOSES LAKE — A slice of bread can’t do any harm, can it? A scoop of peanut butter? A handful of almonds?

Well, it depends. For people with food allergies, eating the wrong thing can make them sick. People whose food allergies are severe enough can get really sick; in some cases the reaction can be fatal.

While people can be allergic to almost any kind of food – a former colleague had only to touch a potato to break out in hives – some are more common than others. According to the Grant County Health District, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has identified eight foods accounting for 90% of food allergies in the United States.

The list includes milk, eggs, peanuts, fish, wheat, soybeans and crustacean shellfish, such as lobster and shrimp. Nuts are also on the list, both the kind that really grow on trees, like Brazil nuts and hazelnuts, and others that don’t.

Food allergies usually start when a person is young, but they can develop at any time. On the other hand, sometimes children grow out of food allergies.

An allergy to one food may increase the chance of developing allergies to other foods. In fact, allergies like hay fever or eczema will increase the risk of developing food allergies. Asthma and food allergies often occur together. When they do, both can be more severe.

The most common foods that cause allergic reactions in adults are peanuts and tree nuts, fish and shellfish.

Just to make it more complicated, people can develop intolerances to food. The reactions are less severe than a true food allergy, but they’re still unpleasant.

Pinpointing the actual allergy can be tricky and can involve a lot of testing and experimentation. Of course, people will know when they get sick, and what foods seem to cause the problem. That’s important information for diagnosis.

Knowing the family history of allergies also helps. Allergies running in the family can increase the risk of food allergies.

A skin test, where a tiny amount of the food under suspicion is applied to under the skin, can narrow down the possibilities. But a positive reaction to a skin test isn’t definitive.

Another option involves drawing blood, applying the suspected foods to the sample and seeing what happens.

There’s no known cure for food allergies, so avoidance is commonly needed. But that may be easier said than done. Wheat, for instance, can show up in places far removed from bread or cereals, like soups and seasonings.

So, it’s important to read labels, all the way to the fine print, for folks coping with food allergies or intolerances.