What is food intolerance?

What is food intolerance?

Food intolerance stems from problems with digestion and or metabolism - the way the body breaks down food-usually because of enzyme deficiency. It does not cause life-threatening reactions as in the case of food allergy.

What are the symptoms of food intolerance?

The symptoms usually begin about half an hour after eating or drinking the food in question, such as eggs, nuts, milk, wheat and fish. But symptoms may be delayed up to 48 hours or more.

Food intolerance can present with symptoms affecting the skin, respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract, either individually or in combination.

On the skin may include skin rashes, urticaria (hives), dermatitis and eczema.

The respiratory tract symptoms may include sinusitis, pharyngeal irritation and asthma.

Gastro-intestinal tract symptoms include mouth ulcers, abdominal cramp, nausea, gas, intermittent diarrhea, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, and may include anaphylaxis (a severe allergic reaction that may result in death).

What is the diagnosis?

Diagnosis of food intolerance can include hydrogen breath testing for lactose intolerance and fructose malabsorption, professionally supervised elimination diets, and ELISA testing for IgG-mediated immune responses to specific foods.

Elimination diets must remove all poorly tolerated foods, or all foods containing offending compounds.

ELISA is a standard diagnostic procedure used in hospitals and other establishments for many tests such as detection of viruses, measurement of hormone levels etc. The food ELISA test measures antibodies to foods. These antibodies are also known as food immunoglobulins or food IgGs.

What is food allergy?

It involves a reaction of the body's immune system. A common symptom of food allergy is hives on the skin.

What foods commonly cause allergic reactions?

The most common are eggs, peanuts, nuts such as almonds, walnuts, cashews, milk, wheat, soy, fish and shellfish.

What foods are linked to migraine headaches?

Foods known to trigger migraine headaches include alcohol, especially red wine, foods with tyramine, such as aged cheese, foods containing nitrates, including cold cuts and bacon, chocolate, drinks containing caffeine and foods with monosodium glutamate (MSG).

(Eastern Biotech and Life Sciences and www.medicinenet.com)