Discussion 4– What are some common presentations of food intolerance? What happens after the presentation disappears? Is the sensitivity still there? Does food sensitivity ever go away? Can it be resolved? Support your position.
Solution
Food intolerance
A food intolerance, sometimes called food sensitivity, is a medical condition where a person undergoes difficulty in digesting a specific food (Muthukumar et al. 2020, p.125).
Some common presentations of food intolerance
This term is sometimes mislabelled as food allergy. Intolerance is totally related to the digestive system problem, whereas allergy is associated with the immune system problem. The major food intolerance includes dairy, gluten, caffeine, amines like histamine, etc. Symptoms related to food intolerance are diarrhea, rashes, reflux, headaches, bloating, gas, etc. Among these dairy and gluten are further discussed briefly.
1. Dairy:
Milk contains the sugar lactose, which is broken down in our bodies by the enzyme lactase. People with lactose intolerance, have a shortage of lactase enzyme and thus they are unable to digest milk which causes abdominal pain, bloating, gas, nausea, etc.
2. Gluten:
Some people are sensitive to gluten, present in wheat, barley, rye, etc. This condition is called the non–celiac gluten sensitivity. This leads to digestive complications such as diarrhea, headaches, fatigue, joint pain, etc. However, this condition can be resolved by a gluten-free diet.
What happens after the presentation disappears?
The symptoms of food intolerance usually appear as soon as after consumption of the intolerant food and last up to 48 hours. After that, the body gradually heals and no further symptoms will occur until the next interaction with the intolerant food happens again (Shulpekova et al. 2021, p.3001).
Is Food sensitivity still there?
Food sensitivity usually remains for a long time. Even though the symptoms disappear after the interactions of 48 hours, there is the possibility of the reoccurrence of that symptoms always remains, if the intolerant food is introduced again.
Does food sensitivity ever go away?
Food sensitivity usually does not cure permanently. The best way to avoid uncomfortable symptoms is to avoid certain foodstuff which causes the problems. Different supplements can also be given to improve the conditions. Like, in the case of gluten sensitivity gluten-free diets, in lactose intolerance fermented foods are recommended.
References :
Muthukumar, J., Selvasekaran, P., Lokanadham, M., & Chidambaram, R. (2020). Food and food products associated with food allergy and food intolerance–An overview. Food Research International, 138, 109780.
Shulpekova, Y. O., Nechaev, V. M., Popova, I. R., Deeva, T. A., Kopylov, A. T., Malsagova, K. A., … & Ivashkin, V. T. (2021). Food Intolerance: The Role of Histamine. Nutrients, 13(9), 3207.
