A very good friend of mine was recently diagnosed with so many food allergies that she’ll probably have to live on a meaty vegan diet for the rest of her life if she’s ever to feel normal again!  Mind you, this is something she has suspected for years since every time she ate the offending items she would feel far from her best.  This could include symptoms of tiredness, bloating, headaches and even depression.  In case you haven’t heard of food allergies then let me explain.  A food allergy is an immune system response to a food that the body mistakenly believes is harmful. Your body reacts to a particular food that then attacks a normally healthy system.  Once the immune system decides that a particular food is harmful, it creates specific antibodies to it. The next time the individual eats that food, the immune system releases massive amounts of chemicals, including histamine, in order to protect the body. These chemicals trigger a barrage of allergic symptoms that can affect the respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, skin, or cardiovascular system.  Symptoms range from a tingling sensation in the mouth, swelling of the tongue and the throat, difficulty breathing, hives, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, drop in blood pressure, and loss of consciousness to death. Symptoms typically appear within minutes to two hours after the person has eaten the food to which he or she is allergic.  Interestingly, you could go on eating the same food for years with no problems and then suddenly, through whatever reason, you can develop an allergic reaction to that food, such is the case with my friend after giving birth. 

However, there is a difference between having a food allergy and food intolerance.  As a food allergy can be gravely serious and even result in death, such is the case with those suffering from Coeliacs disease, who are unable to eat wheat and gluten and those with peanut allergies, food intolerance is more about your body disagreeing with a particular food, in other words its inability to detoxify certain components in food.  The immune system itself is not involved however, the culprit food is still deemed a poison by our body and to be got rid of quickly.  You’ve heard the saying, “I really like that but it doesn’t agree with me.”  Many of us can generally figure out which foods are a safe bet and which ones to avoid, even ones that we can have in moderation.  In my case, raw onions, chocolate, cheese, oranges and too much pasta do not do me many favours if overindulged in. 

Although an individual could be allergic or intolerant to any food, such as fruits, vegetables, and meats, there are eight foods that account for 90% of all food-allergic reactions. These are: milk, egg, peanut, tree nut (walnut, cashew, etc.), fish, shellfish, soy, and wheat.  In children, the pattern is somewhat different. The most common food allergens that cause problems in children are eggs, milk and peanuts.

If you suspect you have a food allergy or intolerance, there are a variety of things you can do.  First and foremost, you could have an allergy test.  This will show up exactly which foods to avoid, which ones you an eat say once every four days and which ones you can have all the time.  Another way would be to take the elimination diet.  This effectively means you cut out what you suspect to be the offending foods for at least 2 weeks and then slowly re introduce it back into your diet.  If you find that you suddenly develop a reaction then you know which food was the offending item.  Of course, food allergy testing is the quickest method, however, the downside is that it is quite expensive at approximately £250 for a full testing.  The elimination test is the cost of a specialist book on the subject, at most £10 but of course, the downside is how time consuming it all is and let’s face, in today’s hectic lifestyle who can be bothered?

And finally, so what is IBS?  The abbreviation stands for Irritable Bowel Syndrome.  This is quite literally what happens to you should you have any food intolerances.  The symptoms can include stomach cramps, abdominal pain, diarrhea, bloating.  In fact, I’ve had many a friend complaining when they had eaten something like cow’s milk, or wheat based product how uncomfortable they felt, at times so bloated they looked 4 months pregnant.  It is very common amongst women, but for years can go undiagnosed.  In fact, the debate here is, does the medical profession recognize food intolerances and IBS.  Until very recently, only serious food allergies were taken seriously.  However, new studies reveal that IBS is a very common and debilitating illness which the medical profession is now beginning to accept.  Unfortunately, where food intolerances are concerned, the NHS still refuses to pay for a food allergy test and does not necessarily take it very seriously.  If you are a sufferer, like my friend and many others then you’ve probably spent many a time in the doctor’s surgery wondering why you feel so bad and the doctor quite often putting it down to a virus of some kind. 

Here are some useful websites and books that you might like to look at if you suspect there is something wrong.  Remember, always seek medical advice and/or professional help before embarking on any such diet or eating plan.

http://www.foodallergy.org/questions.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/allergies/allergicconditions_food.shtml

http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/allergiesimmune/food_allergies.html

http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthissues/foodintolerance/

Books:

Was it something you ate? Food intolerance: what causes it and how to avoid it by John Emsley and Peter Fell published by Oxford University Press