YorkTest > News > February Newsletter > Five Common myths about food intolerance!

 

For many people the subject of food intolerance is confusing and people are frequently told old wives tales or myths regarding food intolerance such as:

Myth 1 - Food intolerances are very rare

Genuine food allergy is rare. Less than 2% of the population (and 8% of children under the age of 3) are affected. Food intolerance is much more common; a study conducted by the charity Allergy UK suggests that up to 45% of the UK population is affected by some kind of food intolerance (food-related symptoms). This means that your diet, however healthy it may be, could potentially be causing you problems. 

Myth 2 - Food allergy and food intolerance are the same thing

Classical food allergy (IgE antibody-mediated) is an immediate inappropriate and harmful response of the body's immune system. An allergic reaction can occur quite rapidly, often within minutes but generally within a maximum of two hours. Food Intolerance is quite different, and not usually life threatening although it can, and does, make the sufferer feel unwell. It is difficult to identify the food or combinations of foods that are causing the problem as symptoms can appear up to 48 hours after the food is eaten.
 

Doctors and dieticians often recommend this approach, but it doesn’t work unless you are reacting to just one food which only a few people do, and even then where do you start? On average, people who have symptoms of food intolerance have reactions to 5 or 6 different foods. You have to cut them all out at once to see any improvement to your symptoms.
 

People tend to be sensitive to foods they eat every day, often several times a day. Symptoms of food intolerance are delayed, coming on hours, or even days, after eating the food. This means that the symptoms from one meal run into the symptoms from another meal. Add the fact that reactions to several different foods may be going on, and you can see that it is virtually impossible to determine the specific food culprits just from using a diary.
 

Myth 5 - All milk intolerance is due to lactose

This is a widespread myth. While lactose intolerance is caused by a reaction to the sugar in milk, it is NOT the same as milk allergy or milk intolerance. The fact is that some patients with milk intolerance are reacting to the proteins in the milk, and some people react to both, in other words, they have lactose intolerance, but also react to milk proteins. Lactose-free milk will not be beneficial in either case!