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Intolerance
or Allergy?
By Fiona Young-Brown
Many people remain confused
about food allergies and food intolerances, but understanding the differences is key. If you are intolerant
to a particular food, you might feel
uncomfortable after eating it, perhaps experiencing a little stomach
pain or intestinal inconvenience. On
the other hand, eating something
that you are allergic to can literally
become a life or death matter.
Food Intolerance
An intolerance to a food is a digestive condition. You may be sensitive
to a particular additive or component
of the food, or you may have a particular enzyme deficiency. Other causes
of food intolerance include: irritable
bowel syndrome, food poisoning, and
stress. Eating the food in question
may or may not cause any reaction,
but since it is digestive in nature,
symptoms of an intolerance typically
won’t surface until several hours after
eating. It should be noted that lactose
intolerance is not the same as a milk
allergy, the former being rare in children but more common in adults.
Food Allergy
A true allergy to a food is related
to your immune system rather than
the digestive system. This means that
not only can you not eat the food in
question; even touching it or inhaling particles of it can make you very
sick. This is why products such as
peanut butter are increasingly banned
from schools. The risk is not that
the child with a peanut allergy will
eat the sandwich. Simply being close
to the sandwich could lead to the
child going into anaphylactic shock.
Similarly, someone with an allergy
to shellfish may become very sick
from kissing someone who ate some
prawns earlier that day.
In contrast to an intolerance, an
allergic reaction will be instant. It
may take many forms. The affected
person may break into hives or experience swelling of the eyes and lips.
They may experience vomiting and
gastrointestinal distress (and it is this
that may lead some people with an
intolerance to believe they have an
allergy instead). A more severe reaction is anaphylaxis, where the patient
is unable to breathe and may lapse
into unconsciousness. In these cases,
an immediate dose of epinephrine
is required, hence the Epi-Pens that
many with severe allergies carry.
Without immediate medical treatment, death may follow.
Food allergens are usually proteins.
Some of the most common food
allergens are peanuts, eggs, shellfish,
cow’s milk, and soy. An allergy may
be present from infancy or it may
develop at any time, even if you have
previously been able to eat the food
with no ill effects.
Diagnosing an Allergy
or Intolerance
A food intolerance may be inconvenient to live with but typically
requires that you simply avoid certain foods or take measures when
that food is ingested (diarrhea or
constipation remedies, for example).
However, i