Undetected Food Intolerance Can Trigger Chronic Health Problems In Adults and Children

Why is food intolerance a growing health problem? Because it is being triggered by our current lifestyle choices:

• Processed food consumption- a diet low in fiber, high in additives, fats and sugars


• Overuse of antibiotics (it's in our meat & fish too unless you eat organic foods) causing a gut flora imbalance


• Stress at a constantly high levels


• Overuse of medications like NSAIDS, birth control pills & steroid drugs which affect the gut lining


• Overconsumption of alcohol


• Environmental contaminants - the pesticides on our foods, the chemicals in our drinking water, shampoo, washing up liquid, laundry detergent, make up, face cream and more

Food intolerance refers to the inability of the body to properly or fully digest certain foods. Undigested food molecules enter the blood stream through the damaged or 'leaky gut' which triggers an immune response from the body. This means the liver becomes overworked and toxins build up, contributing to illness triggers.

In general, food intolerances are not regarded as life-threatening but what we're not told is that they can trigger chronic illness like asthma, arthritis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and cancer and less chronic symptoms like insomnia, migraines, infertility, back ache & painful PMS, if left untreated for a long time. The list of health conditions it can trigger is very long.

Because food intolerance reactions are not immediate and can be delayed by many hours and sometimes even days it is rarely obvious that there is a link between food intake and chronic symptoms and so it is sometimes hard to identify. For instance, people suffering from 'brittle asthma' are more likely to have intolerances and the latest figures suggest that as many as 60% of brittle asthmatics suffer from food intolerances.

So how do you know if you have food intolerance? Here are some of the common symptoms:

Stomach pain, mood swings, depression & anxiety,belching after meals, bloating & flatulence, constipation or diarrhoea, cystitis, difficulty concentrating, skin disorders such as eczema, memory problems & fuzzy, confused thinking, recurring headaches, indigestion, insomnia, irritable bowel syndrome, getting colds and flu often, joint pain or swelling, low energy levels, low libido levels, bad PMS symptoms, persistent cough, sinusitis, snoring, recurring thrush, weight gain issues.

If you suffer from one or a few of these symptoms on a recurring or regular basis, you could be suffering from the early stages of food intolerance. Left untreated, you could trigger a more chronic illness. It's easy to test for food intolerance with either

• an elimination diet in which you need to carefully and methodically monitor symptoms, exclude foods and then re-introduce them over a period of time

or

• a pin prick test to test for IgG antibodies. Beware that you don't get the wrong type of blood test as many doctors test for allergies NOT intolerances

There are even ID Kits (elimination diets) to help toddlers, as well as breastfeeding mum's so that they can identify intolerances to stop them affecting their breast-fed baby. Think about symptoms like colic, eczema, asthma, diarrhoea and constipation in babies and children. ADHD has also been linked to food intolerance.