Food intolerance: symptoms and causes

THE food intolerance it usually manifests itself shortly after a person has eaten a certain food. It is caused by a difficulty in properly digesting the product.

Symptoms of food intolerance

The most common symptoms of food intolerance include diarrhea or constipation, feeling of bloated belly, gas, abdominal pain, vomiting, nausea, headache, migraine, depression, acne and difficulty losing weight.

Causes of food intolerance

The main cause of food intolerance is a deficiency or absence of a certain digestive enzyme. It can also have a genetic origin, arise due to the ingestion of medications, due to anatomical changes or due to the involvement of a gland that acts on digestion. Often, food intolerance can be confused with a food allergy and, therefore, must be evaluated by a specialist, who will prescribe the appropriate treatment.

How to diagnose food intolerance

A specialist may suggest that the patient do the provocation test, that is, ingesting the food and observing whether the symptoms appear or not and then removing it from the food to see if the symptoms disappear. Specific tests that measure the mediation of immunoglobulin G (IgG) in the blood also help to detect food intolerances.

Treatment for food intolerance

Treatment for food intolerance should be done excluding certain food or food additive from the patient’s diet. In cases of food intolerance on the part of children, there is a good chance that the problem will disappear or have its symptoms reduced with growth.

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