Many of us think we suffer from symptoms of food allergies - but in some cases, we don't actually have an allergy but a sensitivity or intolerance. We often hear these words thrown around, such as lactose-intolerance or gluten sensitivity, but let's explore the difference between these three responses to food: allergy, sensitivity, and intolerance.
Once we understand the difference between these three types of problematic reactions to food, then we can look at how to test for food allergies. How might the ALCAT test, for example, help identify common food allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances?
What's an allergy?
An allergy is the propensity in the body of an otherwise healthy person to have an adverse reaction - releasing histamine and other chemicals - via IgE-primed mast cells, when a substance (allergen) is sensed that is not typically dangerous to the body.
Symptoms of food allergies can include such responses as anaphylaxis, rash or hives, shortness of breath, or nausea. According to the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), the eight most common food allergies "account for 90 percent of all food-allergic reactions: milk, egg, peanut, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy, and wheat."
What's an intolerance?
Intolerance is the inability of the body to digest a certain food because the person's body does not possess the enzymes required to process the food. In the case of milk, for instance, often people are not technically allergic to dairy but are lactose-intolerant, meaning they can't break down that component of milk. Eventually lactose is consumed by bacteria in the large intestine, but this is not proper digestion and results in pain, bloating, gas, and other symptoms.
What's a sensitivity?
A food sensitivity is the least medically understood of the three types of reactions. A sensitivity is a more unpredictable physical reaction to a certain food. The IFT states that sensitivity reactions are often sporadic and inconsistent - confusing medical scientists. Above all, sensitivities cannot, by definition, involve IgE-primed mast cells; indicators of allergies.
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