An Explanation of Food Intolerance

What is the difference between allergy and intolerance?

The term ‘FOOD INTOLERANCE’ and ‘FOOD ALLERGY’ are often confused and are two very different things.

Food Allergy

Genuine food allergy is relatively rare. Only about 2% of the adult population are affected. A food allergy is a swift response by the body’s immune system to a specific food. In this type of reaction, the body’s immune system mistakes a food for an ‘invader’ which often results in a rapid allergic reaction often within minutes, but generally within a maximum of two hours. This type of allergic reaction is commonly associated reactions to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs and seafood.

Food Intolerance

Food intolerance is quite different to food allergy and whilst the symptoms can impact the person’s quality of life they are not life threatening. Food intolerances are much more common than food allergies.

When foods and drinks are digested the proteins within them are broken down into smaller fragments for easy absorption into the body. Larger fragments can pass through without breaking down, and sometimes the body reacts by attacking them using antibodies called Immunoglobulin G’s (IgG).

Symptoms of food intolerance can take up to 72 hours to appear after eating the trigger food or group of foods. On average people who suffer from food intolerances usually have between 4 and 8 trigger foods.

Food intolerance is a condition with a wide range of symptoms including: including bloating, migraines, low mood, weight gain, fatigue and skin problems.

Many people suffer for years, having formed a coping mechanism to deal with the symptoms but being unable to enjoy a normal work and home life. Many people don’t realise that there are easy steps to take that could resolve their condition.

A recent study has shown that those who eliminated trigger foods based on food-specific IgG test results had reductions in weight, body mass index, waist and hip circumference and improvements in all indicators of quality of life that were measured. The quality of life indicators included physical and emotional wellbeing, mental health, social life, pain levels and vitality.

Taking a Food Intolerance Test

Taking a test is very simple and easy:

• Order the test kit through The Health Heroine Nutrition Clinic.
• Using the finger prick system, take a sample of your blood.
• The sample is then sent to the Testing Laboratory (in a pre-paid envelope) to be tested and analysed.

Tests can be ordered directly from The Health Heroine Nutrition Clinic!

Help or guidance required?

If you feel you would like to order a test and would like a little advice on which test would be most appropriate for your situation, please book a complimentary call with me and I would be very pleased to help you.