FOOD SAFETY: ALLERGY, INTOLERANCE, OR POISON?

Sometimes we confuse these words to mean same thing. Let's have a simple look at these words.

FOOD INTOLERANCE;
When someone has a food allergy, their immune system wrongly sees the food as hostile and the body's defence mechanism springs into action.
This produces a range of symptoms which can vary from mild itching to severe breathing difficulties or even shock.
These symptoms usually happen immediately after eating the food.

FOOD INTOLERANCE
When someone is intolerant to a food, the immune system is usually not involved and symptoms take much longer to develop and are generally not life-threatening. However, a food intolerance can adversely affect long-term health.

With a food allergy or intolerance, the offending food is safe to eat for the majority of people. However, it triggers an unhealthy reaction in some people. For example, peanuts are nutritious and tasty foods enjoyed by a great many people but for someone with a peanut allergy they can be very dangerous.

*FOOD HYPERSENSITIVITY
Can also be called food allergy, food intolerance or coeliac disease.

FOOD AVERSION – where someone just doesn’t like a particular food, but will not be ill if they eat it.

FOOD POISONING
In a case of food poisoning, someone has become ill due to eating a food that is contaminated with harmful bacteria or toxic. food poisoning from eating contaminated food, and food aversions are not food hypersensitivities.

Contaminated food should not be eaten by anyone.


HOW DO I KNOW IF I HAVE A FOOD HYPERSENSITIVITY?
Hypersensitivities are diagnosed medically. Self-diagnosis is extremely risky as many of the symptoms associated with these conditions are common to a number of other illnesses.

If you diagnose yourself, you may cut out of your diet certain foods that are safe and nutritious while at the same time continuing to include foods that may be risky. If you think you have a food hypersensitivity, you need to talk to your General Practitioner.



SYMPTOMS OF ALLERGIC REACTION?
Essentially, when the immune system reacts to a food ingredient during an allergic reaction, it triggers the release of chemicals such as histamine from cells in the body. This causes some or all of the following symptoms:
•itching or swelling in the mouth and throat
•hives anywhere on the body
•runny nose and eyes
•reddening of the skin
•feeling sick
•diarrhoea and/or vomiting

If the reaction is severe, other symptoms can occur including:
•a sudden feeling of weakness (caused by a drop in blood pressure)
•breathing problems (your throat might start to swell up or close).This is an anaphylactic reaction, also known as anaphylactic shock, and is life threatening. It requires immediate treatment by adrenaline injection followed by expert medical assistance.
Usually the symptoms happen within seconds or minutes of being exposed to the food but the reaction can be delayed for several hours.

SYMPTOMS OF AN INTOLERANCE TO A FOOD
The symptoms of an intolerance to food include those of an upset digestion – diarrhoea,
bloating,
upset stomach,
Weight loss,
lethargy or
anaemia
migraine headaches
psychological effects such as confusion and even depression.
However, these usually manifest over longer periods of time as well as a variety of other symptoms that can result from poor nutrition. In some cases the symptoms of a food intolerance resemble those of a mild allergic reaction.

Many of the symptoms of a food intolerance are also associated with other disorders of the digestive system such as Crohn’s disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

WHAT FOODS CAUSE AN ALLERGIC REACTION?
Although peanut and nut allergies are probably best known due to the many media reports into related fatalities, any food can cause an allergic response in a susceptible person.
To date, allergies to over 180 foods have been documented worldwide. Most of these are very rare and some are associated with particular populations or regions of the world.
Cod fish allergy is common in Scandinavia, as is rice allergy in China and celery allergy in France. These allergies are less common on the island of Ireland where, like other Western countries, the more frequently encountered allergies include those to peanuts, tree nuts, egg, crustaceans, milk and wheat.


WHAT FOODS CAN PEOPLE BE INTOLERANT TO?
There is also a wide variety of foods associated with food intolerance. The most frequently encountered include
milk (lactose intolerance) and
gluten (coeliac disease; wheat intolerance) but also certain food additives such as monosodium glutamate (MSG).

•A person with lactose intolerance cannot digest milk properly (lactose is a milk sugar). Lactose cannot be absorbed by the body resulting in symptoms such as cramps and diarrhoea.

•A person with coeliac disease reacts to gluten which is a protein found in foods such as wheat, rye, barley and oats. This results in damage to the gut with effects on nutritional status and general wellbeing.

•Some people have reported symptoms such as flushing, temperature increase and headache after eating the flavour enhancer MSG. These symptoms are also known as “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome”, related to the fact that MSG is a frequent ingredient in many Chinese dishes.

Other foods to which susceptible people are known to react include red wine, cheese, caffeine and salicylates which are found in certain vegetables, herbs, spices, fruits and chocolate.