top of page
Get-Educated-Title-bkg2.jpg

Get Educated

Food Sensitivity Vs Food Allergy Vs Food Intolerance? What’s the deal.


Many children with Autism and ADHD suffer from some combination of food allergy, sensitivity or intolerance. Many people use these terms interchangeably, but they are in face VERY different processes.


Food Allergy – is an immune activation caused by a food. This is what we typically think of with allergy. Symptoms of food allergy are anaphylactic like hives and swelling but can also include sever itching, difficulty breathing, and delayed reactions like digestive upset. Food allergies are mediated by the immune system, specifically IgE immunoglobins and can be deadly. Therefore these foods should be avoided entirely.


Food Sensitivity – these symptoms develop without immune activation. They can be caused by food additives or constituents in a food like caffeine or preservatives. The symptoms of food sensitivity can be headaches, body aches, or many varied symptoms. Although the immune system is not involved in this process, sensitivities can cause issues for children, especially when eaten often. Therefore these foods should be limited as much as possible, or eaten in very small amounts when unavoidable.


Food intolerance is caused by lack of the ability to break down a food. The most common food intolerance is lactose intolerance. Although another less known intolerance is histamine which can cause a variety of symptoms. Reactions to food intolerances include headaches, bloating, digestive upset including constipation/diarrhea, and many other less obvious symptoms. Although the immune system is not activated in food intolerance, these foods should be avoided or limited as much as possible.


That is clear as mud right! We can help figure out which process is happening in your child, and help design a healthy diet that is nutritious and free of triggering foods. Our treatment includes identifying and eliminating triggers, testing for food allergies/sensitivities when necessary, the use of special diets to avoid triggers and promote gut healing, use of foods and nutrients to repair the gut in the case of intestinal permeability.


We will discuss ways to ID and treat your child during your visit. A great way to get a jump start to getting to the root of your child’s triggers is to , begin keeping a food/symptom log that we can review together during out visit.


62 views

コメント


bottom of page