allergies and food intolerances part 1

Today, I would like to mention the difference between allergies, sensitivies and food intolerances. It will be part 1 of few bites.

Allergies/sensitivities and intolerances
What is the difference and what are the symptoms?

Allergy or hypersensitivity is used to describe an immune reaction to an allergen. An allergen can be a food, insect sting, chemical or other substance that enters the body or touches the skin. There are four types of hypersensitivity:
· Type I (IgE-mediated. This type of allergy is an immediate response to repeated exposure to specific allergens such as food, animal dander, pollen, dust mite and drugs. Once you become sensitised to the allergen, as soon as you are exposed to it again, your immune system will react within minutes and the severity can range from mild sneezing through to anaphylactic shock. This type of allergy occurs to less than 5% of the population and mostly in children.
· Type II allergy occurs when antigens lodge in the body’s cells, for example, antibiotics may be absorbed into the red blood cells. The antibodies then bind to the cells and destroy them (the antibodies and the cell).
· Type III allergy is when antibodies and antigens are too large to be destroyed by the leukocytes (part of the body’s immune system). In this case they end up in tissues such as lungs, arteries, skin and joint causing inflammation and therefore pain (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis). This type of allergy is more common than type I and the allergic symptoms are delayed in onset, appearing two hours to several days after consuming the allergic food (e.g. migraines or headaches appears 48 hours after allergic foods is consumed). Possible problems connected to this type of allergy are: allergic rhinitis, non seasonal, anxiety, panic attacks, asthma, bed-wetting, depression, eczema, fatigue, firbomyalgia, headaches, migraine, etc.
· Type IV (delayed hypersensitivity) The symptoms of type IV hypersensitivities occurs 24 to 72 hours after exposure to the allergen.

· Sensitivity is often used to describe either a reaction to certain food or drugs or chemical. This reaction can either be the same as the substance normal side-effect but exaggerated. For example someone who uses a high dose of a reliever inhaler for asthma and is sensitive to the prescribed medicine may start to shake

· Intolerance is usually referred to food only. For example lactose intolerance, is a lack of lactase enzymes. If you are intolerant to a particular food and eat it without realizing, your digestive system does not produce enough of the right enzyme or chemical to break the food down and this causes your body to react badly.

www.nutritionhealth.net