Food Intolerances

Food intolerances are not to be confused with food allergies. 

Food allergies are an adverse immune response to a food protein and are different from other adverse responses such as food intolerance, pharmacological reactions and toxin-mediated responses.  Food allergies occur when the body’s immune system mistakenly identifies a protein as a threat, the proteins that are resistant to digestion are tagged by the Immunoglobulin E (IgE) and considered harmful by the immune system which triggers an allergic reaction believing it is under attack.  Allergic reactions to food can range from mild to severe and symptoms include dermatitis, gastrointestinal and respiratory distress and can even become life-threatening anaphylactic responses such as biphasic anaphylaxis and vasodilation, which must receive immediate emergency intervention.  Frequent foods associated with allergies are nuts, shellfish, fish, peanuts, soya, milk, gluten and eggs. 

Food intolerances or non-allergic hypersensitivity to food is a term used for varied physiological responses associated with a particular food, or compound found in a range of foods.

Food intolerances can be classified according to their mechanism.  Some intolerances can result from the absence of a specific chemical or enzyme needed to digest a food substance as in lactose intolerance, the enzyme lactase is missing and therefore the lactose in milk can not be digested by the body.  Another example is hereditary fructose intolerance.

Non-IgE mediated food hypersensitivity (food intolerance) is more chronic, less acute, less obvious in its symptoms, and quite often far more difficult to diagnose than a food allergy.  Food intolerance can be difficult to diagnose as the body’s response to the offending food is often a slow response which takes place over a prolonged period of time.  Lots of people do not even realize that food is causing their health problems; gases, headaches, diarrhea, constipation, sluggishness, a constant feeling of being tired, problematic digestions that seem to go on all day, stomach ache, obesity, etc.. A lot of these complaints are put down to stress, working long hours, not sleeping enough or a lack of exercise. 

If food intolerances go untreated, overtime they can produce more serious illnesses such as IBS and diverticulitis.  However, the good news is that they are very easy to treat.  There are now many clinics that do intolerance tests but don’t be fooled by apparently easy tests.  The only way to truly identify a food intolerance is through a specific blood test done at a respectable clinic that ensures it is a food intolerance test.

Treatment consists quite simply of removing the foods which have tested positive for intolerance for a certain period of time, and tailoring a diet which is specific for each person – no two people are the same so no one diet works for everyone.  After the set period of time, the foods can be slowly reintroduced one at a time.  Some people won’t have a problem reintroducing foods, others may find there are one or more that they can not reintroduce as they effect their health straight away.

Once the foods that have tested positive for intolerance are removed, and together with the taylor-made diet, several positive things happen; people experience an improvement in their general health straight away, gases disappear as does sluggishness and constant tiredness, they sleep better at night and have more energy during the day and headaches disappear or become less frequent and there is also the added benefit that they lose weight easily.  These are all positive experiences that better people’s general health and wellbeing.