Food Sensitivity is also known as Food Intolerance. Food intolerance can be
- pharmaceutical – food chemicals (often many symptoms)
- or metabolic – food sugars (mostly gut)
This site is concerned with No.1
1. Pharmaceutical – Food Intolerance
This is a sensitivity to food chemicals that can result in a range of symptoms – gut and other – skin, respiratory, nervous system, and other (just about any!)
A person can a have food chemical intolerance to just one or all of the following.
- Salicylates
- Amines (histamine, tyramine, serotonin)
- Glutamates / MSG
- Food chemicals added during manufacturing e.g. flavours, MSG, preservatives, additives.
It is not uncommon for a person to have multiple food chemical intolerance at once. The only way to find out what food chemicals are contributing to your symptoms is to do the RPAH Allergy Food Intolerance Elimination Diet. (ED). If this confirms you have a problems with food chemicals – you do not need to stay on the strict diet (ED) to manage them, instead you will usually be advised to do a food intolerance diet (FID) which includes low and medium chemical foods, or if you are less sensitive a more liberal diet. This may be for salicylates, amines and glutamates, or just one of these.
2. Metabolic Intolerance
This is linked to enzyme deficiency, and mainly causes gut symptoms.
Most commonly the symptoms are caused by one or more the fermenting sugars known as FODMAPS. An example is Lactose (milk) most commonly and fructose in fruit.
People with metabolic food intolerance may benefit from the Fodmap diet.
If a person has both pharmaceutical food intolerance and metabolic food intolerance, it is usually recommended that the person follows a dairy free and wheat free or gluten free diet.
There is also Gluten Sensitivity
Gluten sensitivity causes gut symptoms, but may have other negative implications in the long term for anyone with Celiac Disease if not strictly avoided.
