Health & Fitness/ Nutrition

Food & Intolerances Food Symptoms • By: Silvia Herszkopf, MS, RD, LMNT, LD • Stomach Pain • Gas, Cramps, , Have you even been victim to a strong digestive reaction after eating certain foods? • Vomiting Your first thought may have been that you ate • Heartburn something contaminated. Soon you realize • that your symptoms are repeated over an • Irritability, Nervousness over after eating certain foods. Therefore, • Headache, Migraines you start suspecting you might be allergic or intolerant to something, but you aren’t sure what. The good news it that having this Food Symptoms awareness is the first step in understanding the difference between food allergies and • Itching, Watering Eyes food intolerances, how to prevent them, and what you can do to treat them properly. • Nasal Stuffiness, Sneezing The term “” refers to an immune response where the body reacts to a • Itching or Swelling of the Mouth harmless substance, usually a protein, as if it were toxic. The body makes specific • Swelling of the Throat (IgE) to “fight off” and releases . It is this process that • Stomach Pains, Vomiting, Diarrhea causes the symptoms we recognize as an allergic reaction. Symptoms of food allergy • Skin , , usually occur within a few minutes to an hour of eating. Reactions can effect the eyes, nose, mouth, throat, digestive system, skin, lungs, and central nervous system. • Breathing Difficulties: Wheezing • Headache, Irritability, Fatigue The most severe reaction, , is life threatening and requires immediate medical attention. The severity of anaphylaxis, which is a sudden drop in blood • Convulsions pressure, can be influenced by several factors such as exercise, heat, alcohol, the amount of food/ eaten, and how the food is prepared and consumed. If Common Food Allergies you know you have a severe allergy that causes anaphylaxis, you should avoid the For Adults: Fish, Shellfish (shrimp, crayfish, offending food and always carry an EpiPen with you. lobster, crab), Nuts (peanuts, walnuts, pecans, Even if you have mild food allergies, you should still avoid the foods that cause a , etc.) Eggs reaction. Adults usually do not outgrown allergies, but children sometimes do. For Children: Eggs, Milk, Peanuts, Tomatoes, Breastfeeding is encouraged during the first four to six months of life to protect Strawberries infants from development of allergies in early childhood. Also, if a baby is allergic to a particular food, a breastfeeding mother should avoid eating that food. Ingredients To Watch Food intolerance, on the other hand, is a digestive system response that occurs when Read food labels carefully to identify different certain ingredients cause irritation, or when a person is unable to properly digest terms used for common allergens: certain foods. Symptoms may appear several hours, and sometimes several days, after eating the offending food. People with food intolerances might be able to handle small Milk Protein: milk, non-fat milk solids, cheese, amounts, but reactions will appear when large quantities or frequent ingestion of the yogurt, caseinates, whey, lactose offending food is had. Lactose: milk, dairy, lactose Classes are subject to change. Visit Food intolerances can have several causes including defects, food additives, Eggs: egg albumen, egg yolk, egg lecithin www.jccomaha.org for schedule updates digestive disorders (like IBS), and stress. Missing certain can inhibit how well : wheat, barley, rye, triticale, wheat bran, and class descriptions. your body breaks down food. A classic example of this is , where malt, oats, cornflour, oat bran there is a deficit of the enzyme in the digestive system. Food additives used in Soy: , hydrolyzed vegetable protein, coloring, preserving, and processing food, can also cause reactions. Sometimes these soy protein isolate, soy lecithin substances can occur naturally. , for example, are naturally found in red wines. Salicylates: strawberries, tomatoes Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is found naturally in Camembert and Parmesan cheeses, tomatoes, soy sauce, and mushrooms. Salicylates are present in a variety of herbs, spices, fruits and vegetables, nuts, coffee, juices, beer and wine. If you think you have a food intolerance, the first step is to identify the foods that cause symptoms. Keeping a food journal is a useful tool in identifying what foods might be causing you discomfort. Write down everything you eat, along with how Helpful Resource you feel after eating. If you notice any symptoms, write them down next to the record www.foodallergy.org of your meal. Once you have identified the food you think is suspect, the next step is to try an . For at least two weeks, exclude the suspected food from your diet. Questions? Contact: Continue to record your meals and symptoms in your journal. A reintroduction phase following the elimination period will help you obtain a clear diagnosis. Working with Silvia Herszkopf a dietitian during this process is very useful in correctly identifying and eliminating MS, RD, LMNT, LD sources of those items causing you distress. (402) 334-6403 [email protected] December 2013 - February 2014 11