Aspiring Spirit

Do you find that you feel ill after eating? Do you avoid social settings and restaurants because you dont know what, when or where you might have unplesant effects from food? You are certainly not alone in your concerns. A food intolerance, similar to an allergy but not as powerful, might be the reason for your discomfort.

Specific enzymes are required to break down the different foods you eat. Food intolerances can be caused by your bodies lack of these enzymes. The response to the food in question may not been seen immediately, as usually happens with food allergies. This delayed response can make it difficult to determine the “trigger food”.

There are several common food intolerances, some that you may have heard about before include: gluten intolerance (experiencing the inability to process wheat or gluten products), also lactose intolerance (body’s intolerance to dairy products). There are also several other types of food intolerances and they will all produce unpleasant effects.

Diarrhea, flatulence, constipation, IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), pain and fatigue are among the possible symptoms of food intolerances. The best way to really prevent these symptoms to occur is to refrain from eating the foods in question, and the best way to find out which foods these is to undertake a food intolerance test.

One common type of food intolerance test is the elisa food test (it stands for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). Blood is collected, usually from the fingertip. This may be done at home or at a doctor’s office. It is then analyzed at a lab for reactions with certain foods. Strong reactions will produce many IgG antibodies in the blood; the more are present, the worse the reaction.

Results from the food intolerance test will show the amount produced and by which types of food. All of the different types of scales measure about the same thing, which is the production of antibodies. It will be quite clear which of the foods, if any, caused intolerance reactions; research has shown this type of test to be quite reliable in hunting out the source of these reactions.

Should you realise you have a food intolerance, there are many steps you may take. The most obvious of them all is to avoid some food from your diet: this can be simple or difficult, depending on every specific food involved. For more usual intolerances - such as dairy - there are safe products properly labelled like that by manufacturers. But as far as other foods are concerned, you have to read ingredients and ask questions. This can be insensible at times, but it’s far better than the symptoms. Eventually, a food intolerance test is well justified even considering the cost and effort.

The body can often be intolerant to certain foods, as in the case of lactose and gluten intolerance. A common test used to determine food intolerance is the ELISA food test (which stands for enzyme linked immunosorbent assay). This test is done by testing a blood sample for reaction to certain foods, if a large number of IgG antibodies is found this indicates a food intolerance. Should the test determine you have a food intolerance it means your body lacks the enzymes necessary for that food type. This can cause many problems such as fatigue and stress to the body, which makes the test worth the cost.

- Keith Ferris