Food intolerances and allergies are becoming increasingly common amongst children and younger adults, as well as people of middle-age. At any point in your life, you can take a food intolerance test and find out you have developed an intolerance to certain foods. Below are just some of the reasons you should take a food intolerance seriously:
What is food intolerance?
Food intolerance is a type of food hypersensitivity which is very different from food allergies. It is very important that you identify the difference between food allergies and food intolerance, as they are often confused. Food intolerance symptoms are not as severe as food allergy, but they can still affect a person’s way of life. Food allergies provoke a response from the immune system, but food intolerances do not.
So what does cause a food intolerance?
Food intolerance is caused by the body being unable to process a certain food item which a person has ingested. Lactose intolerance and ceoliac disease are completely different from other food intolerances, and an intolerance test will not test for these. If you have been suffering from bloat, migraines or constant fatigue every time you eat food then it might be a food intolerance. You could have developed this through overindulgence or overexposure to a certain item so please do be aware that if you eat too much of the same food, you can suffer from food intolerance.
What do you need to look out for?
The most common symptom of food intolerance is abdominal pain, including a bloated stomach and flatulence. In some cases, diarrhoea can occur, particularly if the intolerance is quite severe, but in other cases, the skin can also be affected, which causes an itchy rash and can be unbearable to live with.
Managing food intolerances
You can order a food intolerance test if you suspect that you have a food intolerance. Once you have identified which intolerances are causing your painful symptoms you can evaluate your diet and begin to remove the foods from your diet. If you seek help from a dietician then an elimination diet can be conducted. An elimination diet is when certain foods are removed from your diet. One by one, you can begin to reintroduce foods from your diet and see if your symptoms reappear. The idea of an elimination diet is that you are able to alleviate your intolerance symptoms.
For more information on intolerance testing, you can log on to www.testyourintolerance.com and speak to our Customer Service advisors via LiveChat. To order your test, click here.
