Food intolerance is a general term.\u00a0 While symptoms may be similar among food intolerances, testing, treatment and risks vary.<\/p>\n
For example, both a gluten allergy and celiac disease are food intolerances.\u00a0 Either one could cause a variety of similar symptoms (see gluten allergy symptoms and celiac disease symptoms), but they are very different conditions.<\/p>\n
Celiac disease is much more serious than a gluten allergy because it involves tissue damage, and many organs in the body can be affected, causing what appear to be diseases in their own right (thyroid conditions, cancer, diabetes etc.)<\/p>\n
There are four classifications of food intolerance:<\/p>\n
Metabolic diseases are rare at less than 0.01% of the population.\u00a0 An example of a metabolic disease is a fructose intolerance.<\/p>\n
Food allergies are a problem for 5% of the population.\u00a0 20% of people with food allergies, or 0.1% of the total population, have what is called an IgE mediated immune response when exposed to the offending food.\u00a0 IgE allergies can be detected with a RAST blood test, but this does not detect allergies in 80% of people with a food allergy.<\/p>\n
A food elimination diet is the best way to test for a food allergy because it will uncover all types of food allergy.\u00a0 Unfortunately, many if not most doctors do not recommend this type of testing, and believe that a negative RAST test means the patient does not have a food allergy.<\/p>\n
Celiac disease is an example of a congenital digestive disorder.\u00a0 It is an inherited condition, and is not an allergy.<\/p>\n
Classic celiac disease causes damage to the intestinal tract.\u00a0 Celiac disease may affect other organs of the body with possibly serious consequences.\u00a0 These effects are often overlooked by doctors, even if they are aware of celiac disease.<\/p>\n
There are two established genetic factors for celiac disease, called DQ2 and DQ8.<\/p>\n
Most autoimmune conditions have no known universal trigger.\u00a0 Arthritis is more prevalent in celiacs, and cutting out foods from the nightshade family seems to help some people with arthritis, but there is no one known food or group of foods that cases it.<\/p>\n
With celiac disease, there is only one trigger: gluten.\u00a0 Gluten plus a genetic disposition for celiac plus environmental conditions in many cases leads to celiac disease to varying degrees, depending on the person.<\/p>\n
Lactose intolerance is another example of congenital digestive disorder.\u00a0 Lactose is a complex sugar found in milk.\u00a0 In this case, the body has stopped producing the enzyme required to digest lactose.\u00a0 This condition is very common.\u00a0 Symptoms include flatulence and diarrhea.\u00a0 Recovery is quick after removal of milk products in the diet.<\/p>\n
A gluten intolerance is also possible, a non-celiac, non-allergy reaction to gluten.<\/p>\n