Intolerances Investigated

This blog started due to my son and my husband having a number of food intolerances. As part of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge, for the letter ‘I’ I’m going to investigate food intolerances. What is a food intolerance? What are some symptoms of food intolerances? How can you determine what foods your intolerant to?

Intolerance

From Dictionary.com I found these 2 definitions of intolerance which relate to food intolerances:

incapacity or indisposition to bear or endure: intolerance to heat

abnormal sensitivity or allergy to a food, drug, etc.

In the case of a food intolerance it’s about your body being intolerant to a certain food or foods. It’s interesting how part of the definition for intolerance talks about allergy to a food, whereas I would say that food allergy and food intolerance are different things. Food intolerances are more about sensitivity to the food. They may also be referred to as food sensitivities.

Food Intolerance vs Food Allergy

Food allergy is about an allergic emergency as discussed in my post about World Allergy Week and usually involves a reaction that occurs with in minutes to 2 hours.

On the other hand, food intolerances usually occur with a build up in the body of the food. A reaction may happen quickly or take a few days or more to occur. Just like in an allergic reaction the symptoms may include rashes but not the severe reactions such as anaphylactic reaction.

Allergic reactions can be to the tiniest amount of the allergen whereas food intolerance is more dose-related. That’s why people with an allergy have to be very strict. However, often with an intolerance a small amount or accidentally eating a certain food can be okay.

Food Intolerance Symptoms

• Acid Reflux – how we began this journey as we had a reflux baby who grew into a reflux toddler and then a child with reflux.
• Hives/rashes or swellings – both my son and my husband have reacted with hives or rashes after eating certain foods
• Aggravated skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis & rosacea
• Headaches & Migraines – My son reacted this way when trying to reintroduce dairy when he was a young teenager. At first he had headaches and then later they developed more into migraines. I have suffered from headaches or migraines for a number of years.
• Stomach or bowel upsets – Before working out my sons food intolerances he had stomach upsets daily and would often complain of feeling sick.
• Sinus or breathing issues – I cut out dairy to support my son and because the doctor we saw suggested that I would be intolerant to dairy. After a few weeks I noticed that my nose was not running anywhere near as much as it used to.
• Bloating – I’ve heard of a number of people having bloating after eating gluten or other culprit foods.
• Mouth Ulcers – for example after eating an acidic food such as pineapple.

One particular sign of dairy intolerance (that I didn’t realise until well after we worked out that my son was intolerant), was nose bleeds. This made sense after I found out as he often had nose bleeds while he was still consuming dairy.

Food Intolerance Tests

If you suspect a food intolerance it can be quite hard to work out what food/foods are causing the problems. A controlled elimination diet seems to be the most accurate way of finding out.

There are a few tests available which people have different opinions on as to their validity and effectiveness. I was interested to note in some information, that a friend of mine who has recently been tested sent me, which said that no food intolerance test is 100% accurate. Food intolerances do not show up on allergy testing, also making them hard to determine.

Here are some tests/diets that are available:

• Elimination Diet and Challenge procedure – cutting out a number of foods for a period of time and slowly reintroducing them, under the guidance of an accredited practising dietitian.
• Cytotoxic Food Testing – the one my son and husband had that tested the intolerance level for 93 foods.
• Vitamin, Mineral & Digestive Enzyme Test (using electro-dermal screening) – my friend has recently had this test in the Uk. It will be interesting to see how this helps in determining what is causing her issues.

Both of the tests mentioned suggest eliminating the foods for a number of months and then reintroducing one at a time, under supervision to see how you can tolerate them. So in some ways it is an elimination diet but with a test beforehand to determine what to cut out.

Although the test my son and husband had and we’ve recommended to others is disputed due to it’s accuracy, it has certainly helped us. My husband had the test through a GP, after sharing our sons story. The GP that I don’t believe in this sort of stuff until I hear stories like yours. This GP rang my husband a few months later asking for the name of the test again as he was going to recommend it to another patient.

Have you experience food intolerances? If so how have you determined what is causing the issues?