Food allergies? Here’s why

Straight out of the gate the four most problematic foods are gluten, dairy, eggs, and nuts, closely followed by corn. Having this vital piece of information early will serve us well as we move through the rest of this article. That said, the list of foods known to trigger a reaction is long and varied. As surprising as this may sound, many “trigger” foods are perceived to be healthy. To be clear, organic food has the potential to act as a trigger with the same intensity as its nonorganic counterpart. No really, it’s true.

I know what you are thinking because I’ve had the same thought — why would the immune system react like this to healthy organic food? First, let’s first back up and get a better understanding of what a reaction is and isn’t.

To describe any reaction to food, you may hear terms such as a food intolerance, food allergy, and food hypersensitivity. Often times they are used interchangeably. This is not only confusing, it’s also incorrect. Here’s why.

Food intolerances are relatively common and are said to affect one in five of us. Reactions can vary, but the immune system is not involved in a food intolerance. Trying to replicate a reaction to a known food intolerance is difficult. Not least because there can be any number of factors that contribute to the intolerance. Food intolerances are known as non-immunological reactions.