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Food allergies and food intolerances

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Now I’m going to tell you about a subject that confuses and wonders all of you. What are these constantly mentioned things called intolerance and allergies? What should be done? I hope I answered many of your questions with this article.
***First of all, food intolerance and food allergy are not the same thing
***Food allergies are immune system responses. It is the immune system response developed by your body against proteins in certain structures. Your body perceives these proteins as foreign and starts a war against them with an immune response. In some cases, it can be life-threatening in anaphylaxis.
***Food intolerances are mostly digestive system problems. It develops due to a stress in the digestive system or due to an enzyme structure deficiency.
So, what are these problems in the digestive system?

Not being able to adequately break down or digest the structures in the foods you eat (Deficiency of digestive enzymes or inability to be active; for example, lactose intolerance occurs when there is a lack of lactase enzyme to digest the lactose sugar in dairy products.)

Chemicals to a substance in foods response ( to food additives, MSG, sulfites, dyes)

There may be sensitivity to some natural structures and proteins found in foods (for example, to caffeine or to natural sugars in foods such as brussels sprouts, onions, gluten, etc.)

NOTE: I want to make a small note here. Recent studies in the literature now reveal findings that will show that there is an immune system response in intolerances, but they are not yet clearly accepted.
NOTE: Our second important note is that as soon as intolerances last for a long time, they will constantly stimulate the immune system through the intestines, so they create an immune response in the long term.
NOTE: Food allergies are generally dominated by the IgE response. But there are also allergy conditions without an IgE response; For example, celiac disease.

FOOD HYPERSENSITIVITY = CAN BE THE GENERAL NAME OF FOOD INTOLERANCE AND FOOD ALLERGIES

If we divide by Ig responses in general:

IgE Mediated: Allergic responses affecting the whole system (9800974)

Without IgE: Responses occurring mostly in the intestinal plane and consequences affecting the gut. Then it affects the system.

IgG Mediated: It is thought to be the underlying cause of food intolerances. Reactions may occur as a result of continuous exposure to food. It can cause systematic problems.

***Food allergies can be life-threatening (anaphylaxis), but intolerances take effect gradually on a chronic basis. And the occurrence of intolerance is increasing every year. One of the reasons behind this is thought to be chronic toxicity, malnutrition, and sedentary life.
***It has been demonstrated that more than 20% of people in industrial societies now have food intolerances. People with a family history of an allergic disease (allergies, asthma, eczema, etc.) are 40% more likely to develop allergies. If there is an allergic disease in two family members, it is revealed that this rate increases up to 80%.
***In a study, it was revealed that 45% of food allergies in adults appeared after the age of 18. As we mentioned above, this is the result of malnutrition, sedentary life and chronic toxicity in my opinion.
***One of the worst parts of the job is that it is difficult to detect food intolerances, and even if you detect it, not focusing on solving the toxicity caused by this intolerance and the underlying problems, digestive problems is one of the biggest mistakes made in society.
So how do we know that we have intolerance? What kind of complaints occur in case of intolerance or allergy?

***Food intolerances and food allergies give similar symptoms, so it can be quite difficult to distinguish them. These symptoms are;

Diarrhea

Constipation

Anxiety

Bloating

Abdominal gas is continuous

Chills

Rashes

Skin burning sensation

Palpitations

Headaches

Nausea

Edema

Fatigue

Abdominal pain

Runny nose

Acid reflux

Heartburn

Breathing problems

There may be symptoms such as itching.

In food allergies, the above symptoms can be seen in simple cases, but the complaints experienced in advanced cases are as follows;

Difficulty in breathing

Itching

Hives

Dizziness

Hypotension

It may appear as anaphylaxis.

***Symptoms may start a few hours after eating the food or it may take 24-48 hours to start. In some cases, it may even give symptoms after a few days, so it is difficult to detect. In fact, allergies and intolerances are often ignored because most people do not understand that the complaints that come after 2 days may be an allergy or intolerance picture.
***5% of allergy cases may react very quickly (in 0-30 minutes) and may even cause death with a picture that goes up to anaphylaxis. 95% of allergy cases show symptoms more than 30 minutes later, and may even take up to 4 days. Here, responses and symptoms occur that are not life-threatening but stress the system.
***Blood tests or biofeedback tests can give us an idea about intolerances, but in most tests this information can be misleading, your body knows the best answer. I also use some of these tests on my patients (I do it myself in my clinic, not included in the examination fee, so that there is no financial burden on them.) But at the same time, we closely monitor symptoms with our patients with an elimination diet, so we can more easily identify foods that we have intolerance. As I always say, symptoms are always the most important, they are superior to many tests in my eyes. But that doesn’t mean that all tests are meaningless. When it comes to intolerances, the worst part about elimination diets and their consequences is that we may not have a clear understanding of them either. Because symptoms in intolerances can develop within days and go unnoticed. Sometimes it can give small unnoticeable symptoms in the beginning. Therefore, combining the tests and the elimination diet for a while may help you get more positive results.
***Logic in elimination; We remove foods that we think are intolerant from our diet. We do not consume these foods for a certain period of time (1-2 months), and then we re-introduce these foods to our diet at a low rate and observe the response of our body. If we still give symptoms to the food (from the symptoms we listed above), it means we have an intolerance. Of course, during this period, a suitable diet should be arranged for the digestive system of the person, and if necessary, supplementary support, if necessary, with other methods, if there are other underlying problems, it will be the right approach to solve. We’ll talk about step-by-step elimination below.
From here on out, I will tell you about both common food allergies and the most common food intolerances and what can be done about them.

Food that causes allergies is called an allergen. And these are the foods most frequently cited as allergens:

Dairy products

Eggs

Fish

Shellfish

Peanuts

Gluten

Soy

Corn

Yeast

Nightshades family (tomato, potato, pepper, eggplant)

Each nut tree derivatives = Almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, walnuts, pistachios, brazil nuts, etc.

Chocolate

Strawberry

.

***As we mentioned before, food allergy is an immune response and you should completely remove a food from your life that you observe to be allergic. Allergies can mostly be diagnosed with blood tests. If you have problems that do not go away despite correcting your digestive system, against foods; This may suggest that you are allergic to this food.

Now, we will talk more about food intolerances from here on out…
As we mentioned above, food intolerances are related to disorders in the digestive system rather than an immune response.

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