Are You Allergic To Foods Or Intolerant?

I have observed that when people say "This food doesnt suit me", they want to convey that eating a certain food brings about symptoms in them which range from mild (e.g. itchy eyes) to distressing (e.g. continuous sneezing bouts).

What they may be actually suffering from is either a food allergy or a food intolerance, and not something simple like mere 'unsuitability'. Sadly, few are aware of disorders like 'food allergy' and 'food intolerance' and can correctly correlate it to their present problem.

A runny nose is one of the symptoms of food allergy

Food allergies and food intolerances, are not one and the same. Let me explain the difference in a very simple manner, using two situations.

Situation 1: You eat a particular food and within minutes or an hour, you experience symptoms which can be either-

Mild e.g. runny nose, watery and itchy eyes, itchy throat, hives, swelling of lips,

or,

Life threatening e.g. swelling or closing of the windpipe, Anaphylactic Shock

Food labels should indicate allergen presence

The above two instances are that of a food allergy and occur when your body wrongly perceives a harmless food protein as dangerous and initiates immunological war against it. Common allergy causing foods or allergens include, fish, shellfish, nuts, soy or soya bean, milk, egg and wheat. Now, just because these foods are known to cause food allergy should not scare you into avoiding them, if you are not allergic. You would be losing out on some of the best proteinaceous food in the world. Yes, for someone with a proven allergy (verified by formal diagnostic tests like skin prick test, RAST test etc) to these foods, caution to prevent accidental consumption has to be exercised at all times.

Situation 2: You eat a particular food and develop symptoms like diarrhea, abdominal cramps.

This is a food intolerance and occurs when your body is unable to digest a particular component of the food you ate, for various reasons, like absence of necessary enzymes e.g. Lactose Intolerance (when you cannot digest lactose, the sugar found in milk), Gluten Intolerance (when you cannot digest gluten, a protein found in wheat). Though the symptoms of food intolerance are similar to those which occur during food poisoning, the cause is not the same. Diagnostic tests are available to confirm presence of a food intolerance.

Hopefully this post helped readers differentiate between a food allergy and food intolerance and also use this knowledge to better judge and take care of their problem food.

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