What is food intolerance?
The National Health Service (NHS) website in the UK describes food intolerance as follows
A food intolerance is difficulty digesting certain foods and having an unpleasant physical reaction to them. Food intolerance – NHS Food intolerance – NHS
Food intolerance is “the inability to digest certain foods properly, causing unpleasant physical symptoms.”
Common unpleasant symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, farting, bloating, and itchy skin.
In recent years, the number of people with food intolerances has increased enormously.
However, there is no scientific way to diagnose food intolerance, and even though many people think they are food intolerant, there are actually other hidden causes, making it difficult to determine the exact number of people.
ALLERGY AND FOOD INTOLERANCE ARE FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT MECHANISMS, AND HERE IS AN EXCERPT FROM THE NHS WEBSITE ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO
If you can determine that you have a food allergy
- Symptoms are caused by an immune response.
- Just a little bit of food causes a rash and breathlessness immediately afterwards.
- The number of foods that can cause this is somewhat limited.
- It can be life-threatening.
If you can determine that you have a food intolerance
- It does not cause an immune response and is not life-threatening.
- Symptoms appear slowly about several hours after ingestion of food.
- A little bit of food does not cause symptoms.
- Occurs for a variety of foods.
Food intolerance is often a reaction to alcohol, caffeine, artificial sweeteners, flavors and colors.
A case of food intolerance improved by antibiotics and transplantation of intestinal microflora
THERE ARE CASE REPORTS THAT FMT (FECAL TRANSPLANT, INTESTINAL FLORA TRANSPLANT) MAY BE HELPFUL FOR FOOD INTOLERANCE.
Clancy A. and Borody T. report from the Digestive Disease Center in Sydney, Australia.
Patient Profile
- 35-YEAR-OLD WOMAN, DIAGNOSED WITH IBS.
- For 18 months, he remembers nausea, abdominal pain, headaches, and fatigue.
- He complains of food intolerance to dairy, gluten, eggs, and soy.
A combination of antibiotics and intestinal flora transplants was administered to this patient over a 12-month period with decreasing frequency.
In the first 6 months, 32 transplants of intestinal flora were performed, and in the other 6 months, the method was by home enema, with a frequency of 1-2 times per month.
The patient herself reported that her stool condition, abdominal pain, nausea, and fatigue were all improved by 80% to 90% at 12 weeks after beginning the gut microflora transplant.
At 24 weeks, food intolerance to gluten and dairy products had improved dramatically.
At 52 weeks, the patient had no symptoms at all after consuming gluten and dairy products.
For detailed protocols and evaluation methods, please see the full text of the paper.
FOOD INTOLERANCE IS OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH IBS
IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) affects an estimated 12% of the world’s population.
Despite the fact that it interferes with daily life, it is still a disease that is often treated only as a coping mechanism.
RECENTLY, A LINK TO INTESTINAL BACTERIA HAS BEEN NOTED, AND A NUMBER OF CLINICAL TRIALS OF FMT HAVE BEEN CONDUCTED.
On the other hand, the population of food intolerance, which is different from food allergy, is also growing rapidly, with as many as 20% of the population suffering from food intolerance.
AND THE SYMPTOMS ARE OFTEN SEEN IN IBS PATIENTS.
