Food Intolerance? Food Allergy? What Is the Difference?

I have many clients who come to see me with various stomach discomforts. Some of the common ones are queasy, stomach ache, acid reflux or heartburn. Clients ask me what causes these discomforts and what can they do to help alleviate symptoms. Many discomforts can be avoided if you know what your triggers are. In this post I am focusing on what is thetastyworld.com intolerance and what is food allergy? What is the difference?

Your stomach was built to be your lifelong friend; unfortunately this isn’t always the case. There are many situations that can cause stomach distress. In many cases, people have food intolerance or food allergies that they are unaware of. You are probably scratching your head asking yourself what is the difference?

Food intolerance is different from food allergy. Food intolerance is when you have problems with digesting certain foods such as dairy products, gluten or grains contain gluten, beans, and cabbage because they can cause gas buildup. The food usually sits in your stomach trying to digest longer than normal. Food intolerance is more common than food allergies.

This is the biggie! This is when the body’s response to allergens in food (such as eggs, tree nuts, milk, shellfish, strawberries and tomatoes) cause the immune system to have an allergic reaction, raising the level of histamine in the blood. The proteins in the food cannot be broken down during the cooking process, or by the acid in the stomach or intestinal digestive enzymes. The allergens enter into the gastrointestinal lining, then the bloodstream and cause allergic reactions throughout the body and attack the immune system. For some people, these foods can cause them to go into anaphylactic shock. About 3% of adults and 6-8% of children have clinically proven allergic reactions. Children may grow out of their food allergies, but adults do not. Most food allergies are genetic and usually both parents have food allergies.

It may take weeks or months to detect food sensitivities. Some long-term signs are subtle and easy to overlook or blame on other things going on in our lives:

Another sign of food sensitivities is being overweight. Did you know that people who have a food intolerance can easily gain excess weight? Most people don’t realize that they have food sensitivities. It usually starts off with food cravings; sugar, wheat, corn, dairy, nuts, sugar, etc. Food intolerance causes weight gain that won’t come off until the person eliminates the problem foods from their diet.

An easy food allergy test can be obtained at your doctor’s, allergist’s or immunologist’s office. A small amount of food extract, usually starting with the most common allergens – wheat, dairy, soy, corn, and nuts – is injected into the skin. If the skin reacts in the form of hive, this is an indication of a food allergy. For a more extensive testing, blood is drawn to look an antibody called immunoglobulin E. This antibody indicates a wide range of food sensitivities.