Understanding Food Intolerance vs Allergy

Author's Bio: Katie Bailey, MS, RD, LD, FNC

Hi everyone. Welcome back.

Food reactions can often be confusing and sometimes even life-threatening, whether you're experiencing a rash, digestive issues, or something more severe. Understanding the difference between a food intolerance and a food allergy can be helpful in managing symptoms.

So in today's video, I'll be addressing what is a food intolerance vs food allergy?

What are common symptoms seen with each condition?

What are common food allergies and food intolerances?

Lastly, how are they diagnosed and treated?

Hi, I'm Katie Bailey. I'm a gut health dietitian at Oswald Digestive Clinic where we help individuals improve and resolve their bothersome gut issues. If you're interested in learning more about gut health, I'll link our free guide Five Ways to Improve Your Gut Health here. Alright, let's get started on today's topic.

[Video Transcript Below Video - it is the same information]

What is a food intolerance vs a food allergy?

So food intolerance is estimated to affect about 20% of the US population while food allergies estimated at one to 2%. So a food allergy is an abnormal immune response to a food protein that's normally not considered harmful, and it involves IgE antibodies that are produced by our immune system. Now, when you consume a food that you're allergic to, you typically experience symptoms rather quickly, so within a few minutes to a couple hours. And this immune response can be quite severe for some individuals leading to anaphylaxis, which is a life-threatening reaction.

Now, a food intolerance on the other hand, is an abnormal non immunological response to food. And a lot of times food intolerance is used interchangeably with food sensitivities, although there are some differences. Now, these reactions tend to be inconvenient and uncomfortable, but not generally life-threatening. And there are multiple mechanisms behind food intolerances, including things like enzyme deficiencies and gut dysfunction.

What symptoms are commonly seen in each of these conditions?

So common symptoms of allergies include hives or rashes, difficulty swallowing, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, wheezing or difficulty breathing, and can also include anaphylaxis. Now these symptoms are usually, the onset is fairly quick as well. Now common symptoms of food intolerances include diarrhea, gas and bloating, heartburn, nausea, abdominal pain, headaches, fatigue, and that's just to name a few.

What are common food allergies and food intolerances?

So the most common food allergies are eggs, fish, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat, and milk. Now, when it comes to food intolerances, some of the most common ones we see are lactose intolerance, gluten intolerance, histamine intolerance, which is where the body can't break down histamine as well, and it can cause high histamine levels, which leads to symptoms as well as intolerance to FODMAPs where our body has a hard time breaking down those specific carbohydrate foods, which can then lead to symptoms as well.

Now, this is not a complete list of food intolerances, but it just gives you an idea of some things that are common. So to further distinguish between an intolerance and an allergy, I want to provide a couple of examples. So you can have a milk allergy or you can have lactose intolerance. So lactose intolerance is the inability to digest lactose, which is the sugar that's found in milk, and this can lead to digestive issues like gas and bloating and diarrhea.

Now, a milk allergy is an immune response to the milk proteins like casein and whey, which can cause things like hives, digestive issues, or even anaphylaxis. Another example is celiac disease versus gluten intolerance. So gluten intolerance causes discomfort and digestive issues after consuming gluten. While celiac disease is an autoimmune condition where the body has an immune response to gluten that damages the gut lining and can lead to absorption of nutrients.

So how are they diagnosed and treated?

Common ways to diagnose food allergies include either through a skin prick test where the skin is exposed to small amounts of the allergen to see how the skin responds, or you can also measure IgE antibodies in the blood. And then you can also do an oral food challenge where you consume a part of a small amount of the allergen under supervision to see what the immune response is.

Now, treatment is going to be strict avoidance of the allergen. If it's determined that you are allergic to it and you potentially may need to carry emergency medicine like an EpiPen in case of potential exposure. When it comes to identifying food intolerances, it's a little bit more difficult and although there are tests that you can run, especially things like food sensitivity tests that can help guide you, it's not always the most accurate and it doesn't give us the whole picture.

So what can be helpful is keeping a food diary to track your symptoms and temporarily following an elimination diet to determine what you may have intolerances to. Now, treatment for food intolerances is going to be to avoid the food or limit the food while you try to determine why you may be having the intolerance in the first place. And a lot of times food intolerances can be improved or even resolved when we focus on gut health and improving digestion.

To wrap up our topic for today,

Although food intolerance and food allergies have some similarities, they are two distinct conditions that require specific treatment. If you're experiencing persistent symptoms after eating, I would encourage you to work with a practitioner that can help you determine if you are experiencing an allergic reaction or a food intolerance and help guide you in next steps.

That's it for today's video. If you like this video, please hit the like button and subscribe for more nutrition videos. If you're interested in working with our clinic, you could click the link here to schedule an appointment. We do take insurance. You can find more information about that on our website.

Thank you for watching. I'll see you next time. Bye.

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