The differences between a food allergy and food intolerances

Food allergies affect about six to eight percent of children but only 2% of the adult population so they’re relatively rare. It’s estimated that up to about forty five percent of the population are affected by food intolerances so a lot more people.

Allergies are caused by a severe reaction to a food and they always involve the antibody IgE.

Food intolerances are very different they are usually a delayed reaction to foods and also people react to a number of different foods. So on average people with positive reactions will react to about four or five different foods so it’s actually very difficult to determine the exact combination of foods that you’re reacting to.

Food intolerances are not life-threatening but can be very very disruptive and cause symptoms that can be very problematic and so it’s important to get to the root cause of those food in tolerances.

The shortest way to find out if you have a food intolerance is a test.