Food allergy or intolerance
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Food allergy-intolerance - dairy, milk, wheat, gluten, etc There are a number of different mechanisms that can cause us to get symptoms from foods, such as: Classical Allergy: symptoms/syndromes such as eczema, rhinitis and asthma can be triggered by foods and chemicals as well as by pollen, animal fur etc. These are dealt with in the next posting, on Hay fever etc Enzyme deficiency: 50% of the world’s adult population lacks, for instance, the enzyme that digests lactose, the main sugar in milk. Digestive dysfunction: illnesses, ageing and nutritional deficiencies can cause us to run out of one or more of the factors in our gut that break down and absorb food. See IBS posting When these have been ruled out you may have a Food Intolerance. Symptoms The core symptoms (of which most sufferers have several) include: Headache, pressure in head, fuzzy headedness Poor memory, trouble concentrating |
Daytime drowsiness, fatigue, lack of energy Dizziness/faintness Racing pulse/palpitations Abdominal bloating, wind, change in bowel habit But food intolerances can cause almost any symptom, anywhere in the body, from rashes to pains to malfunctions. Diagnosis This comes first from listening carefully to the history, and observing the time-pattern of symptoms, then from dietary experiments (eliminating then reintroducing specific foods); you may have already tried this, but it can be difficult to do correctly. I have been involved with laboratory tests of food intolerances for 25 years, and I have to say, sadly, that there is no ideal test in this country at present. Those that are available can sometimes be useful as part of the investigation, but should only ever be used alongside the history, dietary experiments etc. |