Food allergies and sensitivities

Citation

(2002), "Food allergies and sensitivities", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 32 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2002.01732cab.014

Food allergies and sensitivities

Food allergies and sensitivities

Certain foods can react differently in different people, making the joy of eating unpleasant for those with sensitivities and life threatening to those with true food allergies. True food allergies are heightened responses of the body's immune system to certain foods, while food intolerances do not involve the body's immune system. Food allergies can give symptoms within a minute to an hour after eating the food or even 24 hours after ingestion. Symptoms that appear within minutes include allergies such as peanut allergy. Delayed hypersensitivity includes the reaction of coeliacs to gluten. Food allergies develop during infancy and are often outgrown within months or during early childhood. Intolerances or sensitivities can affect the individual to rather high histamine levels within the offending food and this histamine poisoning is often associated with eating spoiled tuna, mackerel, other fish or even aged Swiss cheese. In these cases bacteria have caused an aminoacid within the food to change into histamine. The Institute of Food Technologists has compiled its latest Scientific Status Summary on Food Allergies and Other Food Sensitivities and a scientific summary is included in the September 2001 issue of IFT's Food Technology magazine. It is also accessible at www.ift.org/publications/sss/