What is food intolerance?

What is food intolerance?

It is important to note that food intolerance and food allergy are different. Food intolerance is when someone has difficulty in digesting certain foods, the immune system is usually not involved and symptoms take much longer to develop and are generally not life-threatening. However, a food intolerance can have an adverse effect on long-term health.

Some key facts about food intolerance are

• Symptoms of food intolerance often take longer to appear than symptoms of allergies
• The symptoms are varied and can include, migraine, cough, and stomach ache
• Some food intolerance is caused by the lack of a particular enzyme

It can be difficult to determine whether someone has food intolerance or an allergy because the signs and symptoms are often similar. Food intolerance is a response of digestive system to a food, whereas food allergy is the immune system reacting to a food.