What Is A Food Intolerance
The term food hypersensitivity refers to both food allergies and food intolerances .
A food intolerance is not the same as a food allergy, although some of the symptoms may be similar.
In fact, it can be difficult to tell food allergies and food intolerances apart, making it important to speak with your doctor if you suspect you might have an intolerance.
When you have a food intolerance, symptoms usually begin within a few hours of eating the food that you are intolerant to.
Yet, symptoms can be delayed by up to 48 hours and last for hours or even days, making the offending food especially difficult to pinpoint .
Whats more, if you frequently consume foods that you are intolerant to, it may be difficult to correlate symptoms to a specific food.
While symptoms of food intolerances vary, they most often involve the digestive system, skin and respiratory system.
Common symptoms include :
Gluten is the general name given to proteins found in wheat, barley, rye and triticale.
Several conditions relate to gluten, including celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity and wheat allergy.
Celiac disease involves an immune response, which is why it is classified as an autoimmune disease .
When people with celiac disease are exposed to gluten, the immune system attacks the small intestine and can cause serious harm to the digestive system.
Wheat allergies are often confused with celiac disease due to their similar symptoms.
- Sauces, dressing and gravies, especially soy sauce
A Helpful Inflammation Analogy
Think of a glass of water. The glass is the body, and the water is the inflammation in the body. Our bodies have a baseline level of inflammation, depending upon the five contributing factors to inflammation: food, environmental allergies, environmental toxins, infectious diseases, and stress.
A childlets call him Solomoneats the Standard American diet and has several of the common chronic and recurrent common childhood illnesses including eczema, asthma, environmental allergies to tree pollen and grasses, chronic runny nose, recurrent ear infections, and constipation. He also has a significant amount of systemic inflammation.
Solomons glass of water is overflowing with inflammation, preventing his immune system from working optimally.
Since we cant cut down all the trees and dig up all the grasses, we look at the aspect of Solomons environment that we have the most control over: food. We minimize his processed and packaged foods add in more vegetables, healthy fats, and proteins replace high-sugar drinks with water and potentially, gradually remove dairy from his diet.
The higher the amount of baseline inflammation, the longer it may take to get the inflammation under control. Sometimes this means adding more medications or supplements at first, to treat the childs illness and to strengthen his or her immune system.
Sounds simple, right?
Causes Of A Food Intolerance
A food intolerance is caused by your body not being able to digest a certain food or an ingredient in food.
The most common food intolerance is lactose intolerance. This is when your body is not able to digest lactose, a type of sugar mainly found in milk and dairy products such as cheese and yoghurts.
But you can be intolerant to any type of food or ingredient in food, such as:
- gluten found in foods like bread and pasta
- histamine found in foods and drinks like wine and cheese
- caffeine found in coffee, tea and some fizzy drinks
- sulphites found in cider, beer and wine
- salicylates found in some fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices
- monosodium glutamate found in ripened fruits, cured meats and savoury foods
Unlike a food allergy, a food intolerance is not caused by your immune system overreacting to certain types of food, which means you cannot have a serious allergic reaction.
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Diagnosis Of Food Intolerances
Food intolerances can often be difficult to diagnose. Some substances within foods, and the quantity of foods eaten, can increase the frequency and severity of symptoms. These include stomach pain, bloating, gas/flatulence, diarrhoea, IBS, rashes, hives or headaches,
Diagnosis of adverse reactions to foods should be based on clinical history, response to treatment and testing. Skin prick tests or blood tests for allergen specific IgE are negative for food intolerances. However, they are useful if the history suggests that food allergy , is the problem.
The best approach is to first see your doctor to:
- Make a diagnosis, such as migraine headaches, hives, IBS, recurrent mouth ulcers.
- Check for other conditions that may be causing symptoms.
- Determine if diet or other factors play a role in causing symptoms.
- Identify individual triggers to be avoided.
Treatment Of Food Allergies In Children
As in adults, it is very important that your child stays away from foods that cause allergies. If you are breastfeeding your child, it is important that you not eat foods to which your child is allergic.
You may need to give vitamins to your child if he or she is unable to eat certain foods. Discuss this with your child’s healthcare provider.
Your child’s healthcare provider may also prescribe an emergency kit. Be sure to ask your child’s healthcare provider about an emergency kit if you don’t already have one.
Some children under the supervision of their healthcare provider may be given certain foods after a period of 3 to 6 months. This finds out if the child has outgrown the allergy.
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How Is A Food Intolerance Diagnosed
A hydrogen breath test can detect lactose intolerance. During this test, you drink a liquid that has lactose. Then you breathe into a balloon-like container every 30 minutes for a few hours. If youre lactose intolerant, the undigested lactose will cause high levels of hydrogen in your breath. You may also develop symptoms from drinking the lactose solution.
There isnt a test for gluten sensitivity or histamine intolerance. An allergy test can detect food allergies but not a food intolerance. Your healthcare provider may ask you to keep a food diary to track meals and symptoms.
You may also try an elimination diet to remove certain foods from your diet for two to six weeks. If symptoms go away during this time and then return when you start eating the food again you may have a food intolerance.
Asthma Symptoms Can Mimic Other Illnesses Or Diseases Especially In Older Adults For Example:
- Hiatal hernia, stomach problems, heart failure, or rheumatic arthritis can create asthma-like symptoms.
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has many of the same symptoms as asthma. COPD, which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis, is very common in older adults especially those who are or have been smokers.
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Determining Your Food Allergies
While you might be able to determine which foods are causing reactions by undertaking an elimination diet, that can be time-consuming and may not give you the full picture of your allergies. If you decide to undertake an elimination diet, you must avoid all of the foods that could potentially trigger an allergic response for at least a month. Then, once your symptoms resolve, you gradually add the foods back in one at a time and gauge your response.
Our providers test for food allergies at our office. They conduct skin tests and blood tests for multiple allergens in one session. Because the main treatment for food allergies is eliminating the triggering substances, knowing what they are quickly and easily helps you get your symptoms under control.
To find out if your favorite foods are the cause of your uncomfortable symptoms, contact us for allergy tests in Allen, Texas, by phone, or online.
What Are Signs And Symptoms Of Adult Onset Asthma
Regardless of age, asthma symptoms can include:
Dry cough, especially at night or in response to specific triggers
Tightness or pressure in the chest
Wheezing a whistling sound when exhaling
Shortness of breath after exercise or physical exertion
Difficulty breathing
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Food Allergy Is Increasing
Allergies are on the increase worldwide and food allergies have also become more common. Most allergies appear during the first year of life. Cows milk allergy is one of the most common in early childhood. Most children grow out of cows milk allergy before they start school.
is needed into the causes, diagnosis and treatment of food allergy.
When Allergies Typically Develop
Most people remember first getting allergy symptoms at a young age about 1 in 5 kids have some kind of allergy or asthma.
Many people outgrow their allergies by their 20s and 30s, as they become tolerant to their allergens, especially food allergens such as milk, eggs, and grains.
But its possible to develop an allergy at any point in your life. You may even become allergic to something that you had no allergy to before.
It isnt clear why some allergies develop in adulthood, especially by ones 20s or 30s.
Lets get into how and why you can develop an allergy later in life, how you can treat a new allergy, and whether you can expect a new allergy or an existing one to go away with time.
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Food Allergies Versus Food Sensitivities
Lets talk about some more common childhood illnesses. Food allergy tests look for allergens that can trigger a powerful, profound, and fast inflammatory response and can lead to hives, lip swelling, coughing, wheezing, vomiting, and trouble breathing. True food allergies are serious and can be life-threatening. The reaction typically occurs within 15-30 minutes of exposure, or it can be delayed up to 12 hours.
In conventional pediatrics, if we suspect a child has a food allergy, we order skin prick testing or blood work looking for an elevated IgE protein to the particular food in question. If the allergy test is negative, the patient is told to continue eating the food.
Many times over the years, in my initial consultation with a patient, the parents will say, Oh, shes already had food allergy testing. Shes not allergic to any foods. Unfortunately, a negative outcome on an allergy test doesnt mean the childs diet isnt creating inflammation. Thats where an understanding of food sensitivities comes into play. Garys case will help us understand more about food sensitivities.
The complexity of testing for food reactions led me to write an entire chapter in my book on the topic. You can download the reference table I created to help illustrate the different ways we can test for food reactions. There is so much misunderstanding about this for patients and physicians.
The 8 Most Common Food Intolerances
Unlike some allergies, food intolerances arent life-threatening. However, they can be very problematic for those affected.
Food intolerances and sensitivities are extremely common and seem to be on the rise .
In fact, its estimated that up to 20% of the worlds population may have a food intolerance .
Food intolerances and sensitivities can be hard to diagnose due to their wide range of symptoms.
This article reviews the most common types of food sensitivities and intolerances, their related symptoms and foods to avoid.
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Preventing Food Allergy In Children
Allergy prevention in children is an active area of research. Findings to date indicate that:
- Prenatal there is no conclusive evidence that avoiding allergens in pregnancy will help prevent allergies in your child.
- Postnatal exclusive breastfeeding during the first 4 to 6 months appears to protect against the development of allergies in early childhood.
- Introducing solid foods around 6 months is recommended, preferably while continuing to breastfeed.
- Breastfeeding avoidance of a food by a woman while breastfeeding is not recommended.
- Soymilk formula studies have shown that using soymilk formula does not prevent the development of allergies in children.
- Partially hydrolysed cows milk-based formula is not recommended to prevent the development of food allergy.
Check If You Have A Food Intolerance
If you have a food intolerance, you usually get symptoms a few hours after eating the food or ingredient you’re intolerant to.
Common symptoms include:
But there are lots of other possible symptoms, including headache, feeling tired or exhausted, feeling sick, constipation, joint pain or rashes.
Symptoms can last for a few hours or days.
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Allergy Testing & Treatment
The gold standard for diagnosing allergies involves either skin prick testing or patch testing. Skin prick testing and patch testing are similar in that the tester applies allergens to the skin and then measures the patients reaction to determine allergic reaction. Skin prick and patch testing are the least expensive and easiest methods for diagnosing allergies in most people. Immediate results are available after testing is complete. There are also blood tests to diagnose allergies. These are ideal for people who are not able to do skin tests. However, blood tests cost more than skin prick and patch tests and are less sensitive. This means that it is possible for a skin prick or patch test to produce a positive result and a blood test to produce a negative result from the same patient. Unlike skin prick and patch testing, a patient may have to wait seven days or more to receive the results from a blood test.5
What Things Most Often Cause An Attack
Why do some people have such bad allergies and others donât? Experts donât have all the answers, but they say family history is important.
Some common allergens include:
- Itchy eyes, nose or roof of mouth
- Red, swollen, watery eyes a condition known as allergic conjunctivitis
Food allergies: You may feel tingling in your mouth. Your tongue, lips, throat, or face might swell up. Or you could get hives. In the worst cases, you might have anaphylaxis and will need medical help right away.
Eczema: Also known as atopic dermatitis, it is a skin condition. Most types of eczema are not allergies. But the disease can flare up when youre around things that cause an allergic reaction. Your bodys immune system overreacts to substances, called allergens, that are usually not harmful. You might get hives, itching, swelling, sneezing, and a runny nose. You might have it if you have itching, redness, and peeling or flaking.
Medications: If youâre allergic to a certain drug, you may get a rash, facial swelling, or hives. You could find yourself wheezing. In severe cases, you may develop anaphylaxis.
Stings: If youâre allergic to bees or other insects you may get:
- A large area of swelling, known as edema, at the site of the sting
- Itching or hives all over your body
- Shortness of breath, wheezing, chest tightness, or a cough
As with some other allergies, such as food and medication, a severe reaction to a sting can lead to anaphylaxis.
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Unorthodox Tests Can Be Misleading
Some people use unorthodox methods for diagnosing health problems. Several misleading tests have been promoted for diagnosing food allergies and intolerances, without any credible evidence, and at significant expense as these tests are not rebated.
These tests include cytotoxic food testing, Vega testing, kinesiology, allergy elimination techniques, iridology, pulse testing, Alcat testing, Rinkel’s intradermal skin testing, reflexology, hair analysis and IgG food antibody testing. Not only do these tests lack any scientific rationale, but have been shown to be inaccurate and unreliable in published studies.
Treatment based on inaccurate results is not only misleading, but can result in ineffective and sometimes harmful treatments, and delay the proper management of food allergies and intolerances.
What Happens During The Rast
- You will have blood drawn at the lab. The amount needed will depend upon the number of foods being tested for.
- The lab will send your blood sample out to be tested. Your allergist will call you to discuss the results as soon as they are available, usually in about two weeks.
- The Food Allergy Clinic uses a specific type of RAST called ImmunoCAP, which has been studied more than others for its use in food allergy. ImmunoCAP allows Food Allergy Clinic allergists to compare your test results with known values and ranges that show the relative likelihood of a food allergy, which can help your allergist make a diagnosis.
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Diagnosing A Food Allergy In Children
The GP will ask you some questions about the pattern of your child’s symptoms, such as:
- How long did it take for the symptoms to start after exposure to the food?
- How long did they last?
- How severe were the symptoms?
- Is this the first time these symptoms have occurred? If not, how often have they occurred?
- What food was involved and how much of it did your child eat?
They’ll also want to know about your child’s medical history, such as:
- Do they have any other allergies?
- Is there a family history of allergies?
- Was your child breastfed or bottle-fed?
Your GP may also check your child’s weight and size to make sure they’re growing at the expected rate.
Allergy History & Facts
Allergies include conditions such as hay fever, atopic dermatitis, and allergic asthma. Common allergens include a variety of foods, pollen, dust, animal dander, insect stings, certain drugs, perfumes and fragrances, and many other substances. Even ubiquitous foods such as lettuce can trigger an allergic reaction. Depending on the severity of a persons allergy, inhalation, oral consumption, and even touch can trigger a reaction.3
Drug allergies can be very severe. The most common drug allergens include penicillin, sulfa medicines, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs . Seek medical attention immediately if you suspect an allergic reaction to a medication.4
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