Examples Of Food Intolerance

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An allergy is different to an intolerance. With the example of food, a food allergy is essentially an immune response where a food intolerance is a chemical reaction. If an individual has a food allergy, they cannot tolerate even small amounts of the allergen, or food that they are allergic to. If someone with a peanut allergy is exposed to even a tiny amount of peanut, they may have a severe reaction. Someone with a food intolerance can eat a very small quantity of the food with no adverse reaction. A person with a food allergy may have a reaction even if the food was only prepared in an environment which contained the allergen, or if they enter a place where the allergen is present. Food allergy is a reaction caused by the immune system’s…show more content…
Commonly, gastro-intestinal infection can trigger ongoing symptoms such as pain or loose stools after consuming certain foods, for example lactose in milk. The duration of this varies but after excluding the problem foods, usually for some months, they can usually be slowly reintroduced in time. Some people lack the enzymes needed to digest foods. For example in lactose intolerance, the enzyme ‘lactase’ is not produced in the gut in large enough amounts to break down the lactose (milk sugars) in mammalian milks. This is common in some parts of the world but uncommon in white Europeans. Others react to the chemicals that are produced naturally in foods such as caffeine, salicylates and histamine in foods like strawberries, chocolate and ripe cheese. Another cause of food intolerance is additives in foods, such as sulphites, which are added to processed foods to give them a longer shelf life. They are also found in fruit drinks and wine. A reaction to a food that has ‘gone off’ such as salmonella poisoning is toxic reaction to a food, which will usually affect anyone consuming it'. Food intolerances may lead to an allergy if particles of undigested food manage to enter the bloodstream and cause a…show more content…
Babies who have colic, cradle cap or eczema may actually be exhibiting symptoms of a food intolerance, frequent colds, bed wetting or hyperactivity may be linked to diet. Teenagers suffering from a range of symptoms from nausea and headaches to mouth ulcers and fatigue could be linked to food allergy. In later life problems such as rheumatoid arthritis, depression, IBS and candida have long been associated with food

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