Food intolerance

Food intolerance

It is a delayed, negative reaction to a food, beverage or food additive. Food intolerance is an adverse reaction to some sort of food or ingredient that occurs every time the food is eaten, but particularly if larger quantities are consumed. This isn't the same as a food allergy or food poisoning.

Food intolerance occurs when the body is unable to deal with a certain type of foodstuff. This is usually because the body doesn't produce enough of the particular chemical or enzyme that's needed for digestion of that food.

Example: Intolerance of cow's milk, which contains a type of sugar called lactose. This is caused by shortage of the enzyme lactase, which is normally made by cells lining the small intestine. Without this enzyme they can't break down milk sugar into simpler forms that can be absorbed into the bloodstream.

The lack of a specific enzyme in the body may lead to the build up of toxic byproducts and histamine, which then mimic the symptoms of an allergy. This is called a 'pseudo-allergic' reaction.

Food intolerances are rarely harmful but may cause unpleasant symptoms, including nausea, bloating, abdominal pain and diarrhoea, which can begin hours or days after eating or drinking the food in question.

The severity of symptoms varies depending on the amount of enzyme the person makes and how much of the food has been consumed. In alcohol intolerance, there may be intense flushing of the skin, nausea, palpitations, headache and feeling faint.

Diagnosis can include an elimination diet and challenge testing. The antigen leukocyte cellular antibody test (ALCAT) has been commercially promoted as an alternative, but has not been reliably shown to be of clinical value. Clinical investigation is generally undertaken only for more serious cases, as for minor complaints which do not significantly limit the person's lifestyle the cure may be more inconvenient than the problem. Treatment can involve avoidance, and re-establishing a level of tolerance.

Some common Intolerance’s

Sucrose intolerance, also called congenital sucrase-isomaltase deficiency (CSID)or Sucrase-isomaltase deficiency,is the condition in which sucrase, an enzyme needed for proper metabolization of sucrose, is not produced in the small intestine.It is more common among the Inupiat.

Fructose intolerance: Fructose intolerance may refer to:

Ø  Fructose malabsorption - a digestive disorder of the small intestine in which the fructose carrier in enterocytes is deficient.

Ø  Hereditary fructose intolerance - a hereditary condition caused by a deficiency of liver enzymes that metabolise fructose.

Fructose malabsorption, formerly named "dietary fructose intolerance", is a digestive disorder of the small intestine in which the fructose carrier in enterocytes is deficient. This problem results in the concentration of fructose in the entire intestine to be increased. Hereditary fructose intolerance (HFI) or fructose poisoning is a hereditary condition caused by a deficiency of liver enzymes that metabolise fructose. It is also known as hereditary fructosemia.

Citric acid intolerance : Citric acid intolerance is a little-known type of food intolerance in which sufferers report various symptoms in response to foods or other products containing citric acid that they attribute neither to its properties as an acid nor to an Aspergillus niger hypersensitivity.

Lactose intolerance is the inability to metabolize lactose, because of a lack of the required enzyme lactase in the digestive system.

There are three major types of lactose intolerance:

Ø  Primary lactose intolerance. Environmentally induced when weaning a child in non–dairy consuming societies.This is found in many Asian and African cultures, where industrialized and commercial dairy products are uncommon.

Ø  Secondary lactose intolerance. Environmentally induced, resulting from certain gastrointestinal diseases, including exposure to intestinal parasites such as Giardia lamblia.In such cases the production of lactase may be permanently disrupted.A very common cause of temporary lactose intolerance is gastroenteritis, particularly when the gastroenteritis is caused by rotavirus. Another form of temporary lactose intolerance is lactose overload in infants.

Ø  Congenital lactase deficiency. A genetic disorder which prevents enzymatic production of lactase. Present at birth, and diagnosed in early infancy.

Drug intolerance or drug sensitivity is a lower threshold to the normal pharmacologic action of a drug. It is not to be confused with drug allergy. Drug intolerance is uncommon and idiopathic, thus extremely difficult to predict except in persons with a prior history or a family history of intolerance to that specific drug. Some drug intolerances are known to result from genetic variants of drug metabolism.