Allergy or Intolerance? A Guide to Understanding Food Sensitivities

Do you know the difference?

Although the terms food intolerance and food allergy are used synonymously by many people in everyday life, they are two completely different diseases.

• Food allergy: Immunological (defense) reactions of the body
• Food intolerance: Non-toxic (non-poisonous) reactions of the body without involvement of the immune system

food allergy

With a food allergy, your immune system incorrectly classifies certain foods as a threat to your body and tries to fight them off. In contrast to food intolerance, the body usually reacts to small amounts of the allergy-causing substance. Allergic reactions then usually occur within minutes of contact with the allergy-causing food. However, food allergies are relatively rare compared to other allergies: almost one in three people suffers from an allergy, but only 20% of allergy sufferers have a food allergy.

Common symptoms of a food allergy include:

• Itching or swelling in the mouth and throat
• Swollen, red or itchy skin
• wheezing or shortness of breath
• runny nose
• Sore or itchy eyes
• nausea and vomiting
• Acute diarrhea

Allergy-causing foods

A number of foods have a particularly high reaction rate. An EU directive therefore stipulates that these ingredients must be labelled as ingredients on packaged foods:

• Eggs
• peanuts
• Fish
• gluten
• Crustaceans
• Lupins
• milk (especially lactose)
• nuts, e.g. hazelnuts
• Sulfur dioxide and sulfite (concentration above 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/l)
• celery
• Mustard
• sesame seeds
• Soybeans

What food intolerances are there?

The most common food intolerances in the form of intolerance occur to foods that contain the following ingredients:

• lactose
• gluten
• fructose
• histamine

Lactose intolerance

The most common food intolerance is lactose intolerance, also known as milk sugar intolerance. If you suffer from this, you are part of the absolute majority: around three-quarters of adults worldwide cannot tolerate lactose. A large proportion of these are Asians who lack the enzyme lactase – which is responsible for breaking down lactose in the body. In Germany, around 15 percent of people are affected.

Food intolerances and food allergies: Diagnosis

If you suspect that a food intolerance is the cause of your symptoms, the most important thing is to identify the trigger foods.

Tip: Keep a food diary

• Get a notebook in which you use one page per day
• Write down everything you eat, including spices and drinks if possible
• Try to establish connections with regard to the ingredients contained
• Start with a general look before moving on to individual ingredients. Once you have identified your problem foods, try to figure out which of the ingredients in them you are intolerant to.
• Think long-term. You may not see the connections right away, but they will become clearer over time. You can also discuss your observations with your doctor