What’s the Difference Between a Food Allergy and a Food Intolerance or Sensitivity?
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Ever eat anything that didn’t agree with you? If you experience symptoms like headache, diarrhea, or even vomiting soon after eating the food in question, you may wonder if you are allergic or have a food sensitivity. Because symptoms of food allergies, food intolerances, and food sensitivities can overlap, it may be hard to know what’s causing your body’s reaction.
Although many people use the terms interchangeably, identifying which one is causing your symptoms is necessary if you want to get the right treatment. Keep reading to learn how to differentiate symptoms for food allergies, food intolerances, and food sensitivities, plus how to treat them.
Food Allergies: Your Immune System Plays a Role
When you’re experiencing a food allergy, food allergen-specific antibodies (IgE antibodies) recognize the protein in the offending food and cause an immune reaction. But those antibodies aren’t present in a food intolerance or sensitivity, explains Sayantani Sindher, MD, a clinical associate professor, researcher, and allergist at Stanford Health Care in California.
An allergic reaction can range from mild to life-threatening, and can cause a variety of symptoms that affect the skin, digestive tract, and respiratory system. Food allergies often begin in childhood, but they can occur at any age.
Food Intolerances or Sensitivities: May Cause Symptoms Like Bloating and Constipation
Symptoms can be similar to a mild allergic reaction and include fatigue, flushed skin, itching, joint or muscle pain, headaches or migraine, a runny or stuffy nose, and sneezing. The reaction may be delayed and could take up to three days to develop.
Gluten Intolerance Isn’t the Same as an Allergy to Gluten or Wheat
When a person has a wheat allergy, their immune system overreacts after they eat products containing wheat, which could cause symptoms such as itching, vomiting, or shortness of breath.
Celiac Disease vs Gluten Intolerance: Is There a Difference?
In both conditions, avoiding gluten is the treatment, but people with celiac disease must be extremely vigilant — even just one crumb of gluten can produce symptoms.
Celiac disease must be diagnosed with a blood test or biopsy during a scope to detect the antibodies produced in the autoimmune response.
Food Intolerance Can Be Caused by an Enzyme Deficiency
In childhood, most people can digest dairy, but as we age, our intestines make less of the enzyme required to process lactose. That results in the unprocessed lactose sitting in the digestive tract, which can cause diarrhea, gas, and bloating.
Lactose intolerance can usually be managed by consuming lactose-free products or lactase supplements, which helps you digest lactose and can prevent symptoms.
How Can You Tell the Difference Between a Food Allergy, Sensitivity, or Intolerance?
If you suspect that you may have one of these issues, you should visit your primary care physician — don’t try to figure it out on your own.
“Food allergies are easy to misdiagnose, since they share many symptoms with food insensitivity, food intolerance, and food poisoning. If a food allergy is strongly suspected, then an allergist can perform the necessary tests to confirm the findings and offer guidance regarding next steps,” Dr. Sindher says.
Emerging Treatments for Food Allergies
The most important way to manage a food allergy is strict avoidance of the food — even if you’ve had only mild reactions in the past, you can still have a severe reaction. If you accidentally eat the food, quickly administer epinephrine to treat anaphylaxis.
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