An intolerance test helps determine whether your body is hypersensitive to certain foods. Unlike a food allergy, food sensitivity means that your body won’t immediately react. Instead, food intolerance takes a bit more time because it is caused by your body not absorbing or processing the food. When the body can’t process food, it leads to various irritations varying from headaches to digestive issues.
It is necessary to get an intolerance test so that you can have a list and ideas of foods and drinks your body is rejecting. It is wise to take a food sensitivity test to ensure that you don’t keep doing guesswork and eating foods that trigger intolerance in your body.
Food intolerance takes time to show signs; this means that you would have consumed multiple foods before realizing which ones are affecting your body negatively, and now you’ll have a long list of foods to choose from and decide which one is the culprit.
What is a food intolerance test?
Food intolerance is when your body has difficulty digesting certain foods and showing unpleasant physical reactions. A food intolerance test is a diagnostic tool that shows which food is causing your body to have such adverse reactions.
Over the years, more people are becoming intolerant of food. It is best to know which foods negatively affect your body rather than avoid most foods you think are bad for you. Avoiding foods that you don’t know are bad could affect your diet as it may be insufficient.
You can easily take an intolerance test at home. You can do this by ordering an intolerance test kit online. To use this kit, you’ll need to input a sample of your blood by pricking your finger, then send your sample and the details back to the lab. After that, your work is pretty much done. You will wait for around one week to get your results. You will receive the test results at your email address from the lab.
The results will include what foods are causing those symptoms. You will also get a guide on how to perform an elimination diet. An elimination diet will help you get rid of foods that could trigger intolerance symptoms.
What happens when you have a food intolerance?
Unlike allergies, intolerance takes longer to show symptoms. Food intolerance can be severe depending on the amount of the allergen food you consume, unlike allergies that cause the same severity level no matter the amount of food you consume. You will start getting some of these symptoms (1) a few hours after food consumption when you have a food intolerance.
An intolerance test can help discover why you may have tummy ache
- Tummy pain
- Gas
- Diarrhea
- Bloating
- Skin rashes
- Itching
- Headache
- Swelling
- Indigestion
- Nausea
- Vomiting
What is the leading cause of food intolerance?
There are various reasons you could suffer from food intolerance. These reasons include;
- Absence of certain enzymes in your digestive tract: Enzymes in our bodies help digest food fully. For example, when one has lactose intolerance, they lack certain enzymes that can digest anything that has milk and its by products.
- Stress or psychological factors: Some people become sick at the mere thought of certain foods. The reason as to why this may happen isn’t fully understood.
- Sensitivity to food additives. An example of additives that may cause food intolerance is sulphites. Sulphites are used in preserving dried fruit, canned foods, and wine. When one is intolerant to this additive, it may result in asthma attacks.
- Irritable bowel syndrome (2): This illness can cause you to have diarrhoea, constipation, and cramping.
- Celiac disease. This disease has some symptoms related to allergy because it can also affect the immune system. Symptoms of celiac disease include; joint pain, gastrointestinal problems, and headache. This chronic illness that affects the digestive system results from consuming gluten, a protein found in wheat and other grains.
There are foods commonly known to cause intolerance. These foods include;
- Dairy products like cheese, milk, and yoghurt.
- Flavour enhancers like monosodium glutamate.
- Chocolate
- Food additives
- Tomatoes, strawberries, and citrus fruits.
- Wine, especially red wine.
- Histamine and other amines in some foods.
- Eggs, especially egg whites.
Conclusion
An intolerance test is the best decision you can make if you see a number of the above intolerance symptoms regularly after consuming certain foods. It is necessary to know which foods your body could be intolerant to; so you can eliminate them (3) from your diet. Some people, however, can consume these foods but in minimal amounts. If you are those people, you know that it will help you not wholly take some foods out of your diet since they could be necessary.
You can get our intolerance kits at Allergy Test Australia. This test will check for sixty-three everyday items that most people are intolerant to; then, you will get a list of foods to look out for in your diet or ingredients and additives in canned foods.
