Between 1% and 2% of the British population suffer from a
food allergy: estimates suggest that up to 20% have, or believe that they have,
a food intolerance. Symptoms of allergies tend to appear within minutes of
consuming a particular food; they can be provoked by even very small amounts of
the particular foodstuff and in extreme cases may be life threatening. They
can, however be easily diagnosed by testing. Intolerances on the other hand
tend to be slow to appear and very rarely life threatening. Larger portions are
required to cause a reaction and I can vouch for the fact that intolerances are
much more difficult to diagnose than allergies.
The symptoms of allergies and intolerances are different
too. Allergies can provoke itchy
sensations in the mouth, throat and ears; urticaria (hives, or nettle rash) or
angrioedema (swellings to face, lips, and tongue among other sites). In extreme
cases, allergies may cause anaphylaxis, which can be fatal if not treated
immediately. Intolerances, on the other hand more usually cause symptoms like
stomach cramps, eczema, fatigue and diarrhoea.[1]
A problem with both allergies and intolerances may be
diagnosis, unless the allergy is severe and medical treatment is required; in
my experience a fairly routine allergy or intolerance will not be taken
particularly seriously by your doctor, who may merely suggest that you to keep
a food diary and then eliminate the problem food from your diet. Private
testing is expensive and can be fairly generalised in terms of identifying the specific
cause of an allergy.
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| At about the age of seven, I could not have eaten this. |
I have twice suffered food allergies. Once, when I was very
young, I developed an allergy to fish and then, when I was in my twenties, became
allergic to chicken and other poultry. The chicken allergy was mysterious and
difficult to identify at first. It began one summer and was exhibited by the
appearance of wheals (raised areas of skin), usually around my rib-cage, which
were hot, red and incredibly itchy. At first I thought this might be a reaction
to insect bites, but after a while different symptoms appeared. These included
swollen fingers and hands: on one occasion my wrist swelled up so alarmingly
that it threatened to engulf my wristwatch.
It was only when, one Christmas and after a purely
coincidental period of abstinence from eating poultry during which I had not
suffered any of the symptoms, I suffered a reaction and concluded that poultry
was the cause of my allergy. It was therefore fairly easy to control the
problem by simply not eating chicken or turkey. Generally this was easy to
achieve, although I did suffer a severe swelling of my upper lip one time after
eating what was allegedly a beef paste sandwich. Close inspection of the list
of ingredients revealed that the beef paste contained “other meats” of which
one was presumably chicken, hence the reaction I suffered. This does beg the
question of whether we always know what goes into our foods, a topic I touched
on in a previous blog (“Little Bags of Mystery”).
 |
| In my twenties, this would have caused me real problems. |
Like the fish allergy I had suffered as a child, the poultry
allergy eventually went of its own accord, which I discovered when I
accidentally picked up a chicken and bacon sandwich in Marks & Spencer. I
only noticed this when I got back to work and as it was raining, could not be
bothered to go back and change the sandwich, so I ate it anyway. There was no
adverse reaction; the allergy had gone.
Nowadays I seem to have developed an intolerance; it may be
a gluten intolerance, it may be a wheat intolerance (it may be something else
entirely), because as we know, food intolerances are quite difficult to
diagnose. I am not convinced that my intolerance is to wheat; I can eat normal
pasta quite happily, but some shop bought sauces, which usually contain wheat
flour can sometimes, but not always, cause a reaction.
What I do know is
that when I suffer a reaction I will wake up in the early hours of the morning (oddly,
normally at 1.30 a.m. give or take a few
minutes), feeling at first uncomfortable
and usually with a metallic taste in my mouth, this is followed by painful stomach
cramps and sweats, then diarrhoea. Fortunately this episode usually passes
quite quickly, although it can be very painful; this week, for instance, I had
a particularly violent reaction, I think it was to a shop bought cooking sauce,
to the point where I near as damn it passed out.
On other occasions the symptoms are less obvious, and not
physical: I have been told, and have
sometimes noticed myself, mood changes and irritability that may occur, usually
if I have eaten bread.
There are now many more people with wheat or gluten
intolerance, or people who suffer from the more debilitating and more serious
celiac disease and I cannot help feeling that modern bread making methods may
be to blame. Because I can sometimes eat bread, or other foods containing wheat
or gluten without any problem it may be that some of bread’s other ingredients,
ingredients we are not even aware of, may be to blame or it may be the baking
process itself that is responsible.
In 1961, the Chorleywood bread process was developed by the
British Baking Industries Research Association. This intense, mechanical
working of the dough reduced the fermentation period and time taken to produce
the loaf. Instances of yeast and gluten intolerances have undoubtedly increased
in the years since 1961; it is difficult to believe that this is a coincidence.
In addition there are ingredients in modern bread that legislation does not require
listing on packaging. These include amylase, which can cause asthma, and
calcium propionate, which may be responsible for some cases of eczema and some
behavioural problems in children.
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| Is this making us ill? |
It is frustrating for me that I cannot pin down the exact
cause of my food intolerance; it makes it quite difficult to decide whether or
not I should avoid certain foods and I am sure there are hundreds of thousands
of people in the UK who suffer similarly. Whether the 20% figure is accurate or
not, there certainly seem to be more people suffering food allergies and
intolerances these days. If you are one of them, or indeed if a member of your
family is, I sympathise.
If you are interested in learning more about gluten
intolerance, I recommend the following article, my reading which was the reason
for this week’s blog: The Whole GLUTEN Story-With The Science.
[1]
See http://www.allergyuk.org/home/home
for detailed information on allergies and intolerances, and their causes and
symptoms.
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