Food Intolerances

Food intolerance, unliketrue food allergy can have a number of different causes.

A food intolerance is difficulty digesting certain foods and having an unpleasant physical reaction to them. It is much more common than food allergy and is not caused by the immune system. The onset of symptoms is usually slower, and may be delayed by many hours after eating the offending food. The symptoms may also last for several hours, even into the next day and sometimes longer. Intolerance to several foods or a group of foods is not uncommon.

With food intolerance, some people can tolerate a reasonable amount of the food, but if they eat too much (or too often) they get symptoms because their body cannot tolerate unlimited amounts.

The symptoms caused by food intolerance are varied. They usually cause gastrointestinal symptoms such as bloating, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, irritable bowel and can include skin rashes and sometimes fatigue, joint pains, dark circles under the eyes, night sweats and other chronic conditions.

The number of people who believe they have a food intolerance has risen dramatically over recent years, but it's hard to know how many people are truly affected.