FOOD SENSITIVITIES - WHY DO THEY DEVELOP?

Food intolerances are very common. True allergies are sensitivities to certain substances, which the majority of people find harmless. Allergic reactions involve immunologic reactions between an antigens [the food or nasal irritant or chemical) and an antibody which the body produces.  

Many reactions to food do not involve this classic antigen-antibody reaction. Intolerances can affect any organ system of the body. They may include rhinitis, breathing problems, digestive problems, itching skin, hives, eczema, rash, headaches, insomnia, hyperirritability, anxiety, depression, and concentration problems. The number of substances to which people are exposed has gone up dramatically in the last few decades. Some of the foods we consume all the time are foreign to our genetic backgrounds.

For food sensitivities to occur there must be a malfunctioning of the immune system. The environmental stresses (air, water and noise pollution, synthetic chemicals), personal stresses and emotional crises, and unnatural lifestyles with which we must cope alter our immune system's ability to cope with antigens. Symptoms develop when a person’s tolerance is exceeded.

By reducing part of the load, the body copes better with the remaining burden. Ie by eliminating the offending foods, one may be more tolerant to environmental allergens. Taking suspect foods out of the diet may prevent a reaction to pollens, dust, animal hair etc., which may be in your immediate environment. This could partly explain why a person might react to a food one time and not another.</

With food intolerances it is important to remember that not only must the foods be avoided, but the immune and digestive systems must be supported to be able to cope.

What causes food and other sensitivities?

Contributing factors include genetics, timing, and exposure to the problem food/chemical. If both of your parents have allergies, you have a 70% chance of having the same problem. Whether or not you also have a family history of allergy you have 4 times the risk of anyone else for developing an allergy-.if your mother smoked while she was pregnant .

Your degree of susceptibility may also depend on metabolic factors such as increased or decreased thyroid activity, adrenal insufficiency, and hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar). Being born or weaned during or immediately prior to the peak season of pollen may increase the risk of sensitisation to a particular allergen. If you are exposed to cow's milk at any time in the first 6 months of life; you're more likely to be allergic to it than someone who had no exposure in those early months of life.

Do you know what your sensitivities are?

Most people who are sensitive to food are unaware of it because the reaction may be delayed for many hours after eating the problem food and also the reaction may last for quite a few days. If a food has not been eaten for some time and then is eaten, a reaction may happen fairly quickly.</

For example, if a person is sensitive to wheat, each time they eat wheat, they will often feel better for a while. When they stop eating the wheat, there may be an initial period of feeling worse which is followed in time by feeling better. After avoiding the wheat for some time, a large portion of wheat may cause the symptoms to reoccur dramatically.

When you are not sure of your food intolerances, it is possible to have a complex mixture of masking effects, withdrawal effects, and re-introduction effects. The relationship of the symptoms to food will not be clear. Patients with food sensitivities frequently behave as if they were addicted to foods, with a reaction being stopped or lessened by a second feeding. As a result, patients often crave foods that are the cause of their symptoms.</

Food intolerances can have a significant impact on your health and are involved in a variety of health problems that you may not have thought about whether emotional or gastrointestinal or skin and more. Although avoiding the foods to which you have been found intolerant can be difficult at first, it can also open up a world of exciting new and varied foods with the added health benefits worth the effort.

Easy tests for food sensitivities can be ordered online and done in the privacy of your home