What’s The Difference Between Food Allergies, Intolerances, and Sensitivities?
Do you know someone who avoids dairy products? Is it because they have an allergy to them or because they have lactose intolerance? Or even an unexplained sensitivity that they think is due to one of the milk proteins, casein?
Lactose intolerance is pretty well understood: It’s due to not having enough of the enzyme that digests lactose, the sugar in milk. When lactose isn’t digested by your enzymes it travels down to the colon where bacteria go crazy, causing diarrhea and gas. What’s less well known is that other sugar-digesting enzymes may also be missing, so some people react to table sugar (sucrose) or fructose.
We also know what’s going on in the body when we develop classic allergies to wheat, dairy and the seven other major food allergens–sesame, peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, fish, eggs, and soybeans. The immune system overreacts to specific proteins in these foods causing itching, swelling, rashes, and even anaphylaxis.
And we have a reasonable idea how gluten contributes to celiac disease: Gluten is a protein that is difficult for digestive enzymes to break down, and it triggers the immune system to attack intestinal cells.
These are diagnosable and treatable conditions: If you have one of them, please follow your medical practitioner’s advice.
But many people we know who avoid dairy, gluten, or other foods do not do so because of one of these diagnoses. They do it because they feel better; perhaps experiencing less bloating, better digestion and elimination, or fewer aches and pains. We call these food sensitivities. Doctors may not understand what’s going on, but hopefully they encourage their patients to listen to and believe their own bodies.
There’s much about food sensitivities that we don’t yet understand. If you’d like detailed information on what is known–and it’s a lot– about a wide range of sensitivities and intolerances, you may find The Health Professionals Guide to Food Allergies and Intolerances by J. V. Joneja to be helpful.
People can be sensitive to many other foods in addition to dairy and wheat. An elimination diet is the best way to figure this out, but it is not easy to do correctly, and may be a waste of time if you try to do it by yourself. If you want to try an elimination diet, enlist the help of a registered dietitian or other nutritionist who has experience with this approach.
Campos, M. (2020, January 30). Food allergy, intolerance, or sensitivity: What’s the difference, and why does it matter? Harvard Health Blog. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/food-allergy-intolerance-or-sensitivity-whats-the-difference-and-why-does-it-matter-2020013018736