What is food intolerance and how is it different from allergy?
Food intolerance is any adverse effect caused after ingestion of a food or part of a food. It differs from allergy in the mechanism by which it is produced: allergy is produced by an immunological mechanism mediated by IgE antibodies, whereas an intolerance is produced by mechanisms that may or may not be immunological. In the first case we find intolerances such as celiac disease (where IgA antibodies are produced) and histaminosis (which is an immunological response at the cellular level). In the second case we find lactose intolerance, for example.
Can all foods cause intolerance and which foods usually cause intolerance?
All foods can cause intolerance. Milk, wheat and egg are the most common causes.
What is the cause of intolerance?
There are many causes, for example hormonal changes during pregnancy, infections of the digestive tract (intestinal parasitosis, infection by the bacterium Helicobacter Pylori), diseases affecting the digestive tract (celiac disease, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis), surgical interventions on the digestive tract, allergies, etc.
Is there any method to prevent or detect food intolerance?
There is no method to prevent intolerance. A person can become intolerant to a food at any time in his or her life, even if he or she has been eating that food for many years without any problem.
What symptoms does food intolerance cause?
Intolerance usually causes chronic symptoms that are not immediate, so that one does not suspect that they are related to food: Headache, muscle or joint pain; digestive symptoms such as heavy digestions, constipation, diarrhea, gas and gastric discomfort; fatigue; alterations in body temperature, memory, attention, sleep, skin; auditory tinnitus; bruxism; drooling; inability to lose weight, etc.
Many of these patients may be diagnosed with fibromyalgia, tension headache or migraine, irritable colon, atopic skin and overweight of unknown cause.
What recommendations can a person with intolerance follow? Can it be treated?
The most basic treatment would be to follow a personalized therapeutic diet, in which the foods to which the patient is intolerant would be avoided. If properly performed, these intolerances can often be overcome and the patient can return to eating those foods. There are also pharmacological treatments with antihistamines, immunomodulators, antioxidants and specific immunotherapies. In addition, hospital admissions can be carried out for food desensitization, as well as treatments for symptom control based on low intensity electromagnetic fields.