Food allergies, intolerances and sensitivities play a relatively small role in conventional medicine, but I find them to be helpful in both determining what may be going on with a patient and well as how to treat him or her. You may have heard of people being "allergic" to food, but what does being "allergic" really mean?

As the title suggests, there is actually more than one way a person's body can react negatively to a food, and the reaction depends on how the body and the immune system responds. A true food allergy is when a person eats, or sometimes even comes close to, a food that causes either a rash, itching, or an asthma attack. This is the body's immune system causing an IgE reaction. Besides food, other IgE reactions include environmental allergies that can result in hay fever and asthma attacks. Environmental and food allergens can be tested with the common "skin prick" test where different foods and environmental allergens are introduced into the skin with a needle prick. A positive IgE reaction occurs when the area pricked becomes red and swollen.

Food intolerance occurs when a person does not have enough enzymes to digest a certain food, which leads to intestinal irritation usually resulting in diarrhea and/or vomiting. You likely know someone that has a dairy intolerance. People with dairy intolerance do not produce enough of the enzyme, called lactase, that digests the lactose sugar in dairy. This lack of the lactase enzyme leads to maldigestion of lactose. The extra lactose causes intestinal irritation, which leads to diarrhea.

Diagnosing and treating food sensitivities is much more difficult. Technically they could be called food allergies because an immune reaction does occur, but I like to call them food sensitivities because it helps to distinguish IgE reactions from IgA, IgM and IgG reactions. If you are sensitive to a food, you could have an immune reaction at the lining of your digestive system, known as an IgA reaction. You could also have an immune reaction when the food crosses over into the bloodstream from the digestive tract, in which case an IgM and/or an IgG reaction can occur. To diagnose food sensitivities, I first run a digestive function test called GI-2 © (Diagnos-Techs, Inc) which tests for five common IgA reactions: gliadin (gluten, found in most grains including wheat), casein (the protein portion of dairy), soy, corn and peanuts. The GI-2 test also tests for general digestive function, because often these patients have digestive complaints. To test for IgM and IgG reactions, I order a blood test which tests the patients immune system cells against 115 different kinds of food. I think of this test mostly for people with an autoimmune disease, such as autoimmune thyroid conditions (e.g. Hashimoto's disease, etc.) and rheumatoid arthritis. However, most chronic complaints can be due to a food sensitivity, which is why some practitioners tend to focus mainly on testing and treating food sensitivities.

If there are any positive findings with any of these tests, food avoidance is recommend;. Food avoidance is necessary for food allergy (IgE) reactions to avoid asthma attacks. People with any food allergy reactions should always carry an epinephrine pen (Epi pen) in case accidental contact or ingestion occurs. Epinephrine works by opening up the airway so the affected person does not suffocate. If a patient tests positive for a food IgA reaction I recommend food avoidance plus supplements (usually containing a combination of botanicals, vitamins, minerals and amino acids) and homeopathic remedies for digestive tract healing and inflammation reduction. I also recommend food avoidance for patients with positive IgM and IgG reactions, as well as supportive therapies to help reverse the overreaction of the immune system—I treat each patient uniquely depending on his or her body and condition.

Why does it seem like there are more people with food allergies, intolerances and sensitivities? There are many theories out there and I suspect it is a combination of many factors. One theory is that there are more toxins and chemicals overall in our environment, which puts an added stress on everyone's body and makes us more susceptible to having any kind of chronic condition or disease. Farming methods have also changed over the past few generations. Current farming methods strip the soil, leaving fewer nutrients in our crops as well as more pesticides are used. More pesticides in our food increases the chemical load on our bodies. Also, many people eat foods that are more convenient. These foods are more refined and have more preservatives in them which our bodies cannot process and could theoretically cause damage to our bodies.