A comment from Heather, about citric acid and yeast (see Even Yeast free bread may still have yeast) put me on to learning that some people have a citric acid intolerance.

That lead me to a bit of research, which lead me to Vicy Clarke's Citric Acid Intolerance page.

The problem with having a citric acid intolerance is that citric acid is so hard to avoid, at least if you eat prepared foods.

Sounds familiar from avoiding gluten.

Citric acid is used as a flavoring, preservative and catalyst for other preservatives. And probably other uses as well.

As with managing any allergy, reading ingredients is a must.

Also, doing your own cooking makes it much easer to manage a citric acid intolerance. This may seem like a drag if you aren't much of a cook, but the good news is that (a) this forces you towards a more healthy diet and (b) it really isn't that hard to learn how to cook.

Vitamin B5 may help reduce reactions should you accidentally eat a citric acid containing food. This is confirmed.

External Links

These links are to a static website that appears unmaintained, although it has very useful information. Please let me know if the links stop working.

• Vicy Clarke's Citric Acid Intolerance page
• Citric acid free recipes

Technorati Tags: Food Allergy Health Citric Acid Intolerance