Food Compatibility Chronicles: Embracing Your Unique Culinary Chemistry
Have you been feeling discomfort after having food lately? You may be intolerant to certain foods!
A food intolerance is caused by your body being unable to digest a certain food or any food ingredient. The three most common food intolerances are lactose, a sugar found in milk, casein, a protein found in milk, and gluten, a protein found in grains such as wheat, rye, and barley. The lactose intolerance occurs when your body cannot digest lactose, a type of sugar mainly found in milk and dairy products like cheese and yoghurts. The degree of food intolerance may differ from person to person, and its impact can vary like stomach pain, bloating, farting, headaches, and diarrhoea.
You may need clarification on food intolerance and food allergy as they are difficult to distinguish, and require your detailed history by an allergist, excluding allergies by taking an allergy test and deducting other possible diagnoses.
There are different kinds of food intolerances:
Pharmacological effects (for example, caffeine, tyramine, monosodium glutamate, salicylates and amines)
Enzyme deficiencies (lactase deficiency causing lactose intolerance)
Toxins (contamination of food such as fish with bacteria or their by-products)
Gastrointestinal dysfunction (visceral hypersensitivity in irritable bowel syndrome leading to FODMAP sensitivity).
Food intolerance has a wide range of adverse reactions depending on the dosage you get exposed which triggers symptoms that may even worsen upon consuming the particular food. This causes stomach upset and other digestive problems after you consume certain foods or drinks.
The best way to avoid symptoms of food intolerance is to avoid certain foods or eat them less often and in smaller amounts. If unaware of any intolerance, you can get yourself tested. Where the immunoglobulin-G (Ig-G) antibodies in your blood are specific to a variety of foods. Even if you are intolerant to certain foods can have alternatives to them making your taste buds and tummy happy.
Keep those taste buds smiling and your tummy doing the happy dance – because, after all, every gut deserves a standing ovation!
Reference
Prevalence of IgG-mediated food intolerance among patients with allergic symptoms
