Food Allergy vs. Food Intolerance vs. Food Sensitivity and how to Test.
It is common for individuals to know if they have a Food Allergies because they get an immediate response after ingesting the food which can be life threatening. Yet most are not as familiar with Food Intolerances and Food Sensitivities which are much more prevalent than Food Allergies and often at the root cause of Chronic Illnesses.
The definitions below have been taken from the Institute for Functional Medicine:
Food Allergies: True food allergies are immune reactions to food. These reactions begin to cause symptoms immediately after a trigger food is eaten. Symptoms can range from mild to severe, and may include a rash, swollen or itchy tongue, runny nose, hives, abdominal pain, vomiting, trouble breathing, coughing, wheezing, or a closed airway. Common sources of food allergies are peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, soy, milk, fish, and shellfish. However, many other foods can also cause allergic reactions.
Food Intolerance: Food intolerances are non-immune reactions to certain food components (e.g., lactose, histamines, alcohol, etc.) that occur when a person is lacking the digestive enzyme or nutrient responsible for breaking down those food components. Intolerances can cause flushing, cold or flu-like symptoms, inflammation, and general discomfort, because the body lacks the appropriate tools to break down trigger foods. Common trigger foods and ingredients include dairy products, sulfites, histamines, lectins, preservatives, artificial colors, fillers, flavorings, chocolate, citrus fruits, and acidic foods.
Food Sensitivity: Food sensitivities can cause reactions that are delayed by hours or even days. These food reactions are usually caused by an imbalance in the gastrointestinal system that is affecting the immune system. One such imbalance is intestinal permeability, or “leaky gut syndrome.” Symptoms of food sensitivities differ from person to person, and can depend on the type of food eaten. Some symptoms are migraines, headaches, dizziness, difficulty sleeping, mood swings, depression, anxiety, unintentional weight loss or gain, dark under-eye circles, asthma, irregular heartbeat, irritable bowels, bloating, wheezing, runny nose, sinus problems, ear infections, food cravings, muscle or joint pain, indigestion, nausea, vomiting, bladder control issues, fatigue, hyperactivity, hives, rashes, dry skin, excessive sweating and acne. Common sources of food sensitivities are cow’s milk (and dairy products), eggs, gluten (from wheat, rye, spelt, and barley), soy, shellfish, and tree nuts.
I hope you just had that “Aha!” moment reading through the list of symptoms from food sensitivities. So many people continue on with these symptoms and chronic conditions not knowing that what they put in their mouth can actually be a trigger.
“One Man’s Food is Another Man’s Poison” -Lucretius
Since there is not a “One Fits All” diet for everyone, we must individually come to learn how different foods effect our bodies. Typically with each new patient I will do one of two things.
Practitioner Guided Elimination Diet or
Food Sensitivity Testing in conjunction with an Elimination Diet.
What is an Elimination Diet?
Elimination diets are the gold standard for identifying food intolerances and sensitivities through diet. To perform an Elimination diet you eliminate specific foods for a minimum of 3 weeks. This timeframe has been set because food sensitivities are IgG antibody mediated and IgG antibodies have a half life of roughly 21 days. After 21 day’s you can expect most of your symptoms to disappear and at that point it’s time for the Reintroduction phase.
What are common Foods to Eliminate on a Comprehensive Elimination Diet? Below is a table from the IFM Elimination Diet Comprehensive Guide of foods to remove/foods to eat:
Many are great at following short term diets and eliminating foods for a time, but then end it by jumping back in and eating all the foods they have missed all at once. This teaches you nothing about which individual foods could be the triggers to your symptoms. In the reintroduction phase of an elimination diet, it is important to reintroduce only one new food at a time. You must consume enough of the food to properly test your bodies reaction, typical 2-3 times in the same day. Next you stop eating it, then wait 48 hours to see if you have a reaction. Assess your response over that time, keeping track of any symptoms. If there are no reactions to a food, you can continue eating that food and move on to challenge the next food for reintroduction. If the food causes a response then you discontinue it and after 72 hours you can test in the next food.
While the chart above covers some of the most common food triggers, it can be very difficult to eliminate all possible food triggers. That is where the advanced technology to test for IgG Food Sensitivities and inflammatory markers comes in handy. After completing the test you can remove foods that show up positive on the test, then after the specified time, reintroduce them one at a time.
If you are interested in Food Sensitivity testing and/or a practioner guided Elimination Diet to find what foot triggers might be at the root cause of your aliments, you may schedule a consult with Dr. Robyn.
