What is the difference between Food Intolerance and Food Allergy?
Food intolerance is much more common than food allergy and occurs when the body is unable to digest a particular food. This causes symptoms of discomfort including cramping abdominal pain, diarrhea, belching, bloating, and gas. These symptoms may be quite uncomfortable, however, they usually do not pose a great danger to the person. One common food intolerance is lactose intolerance. People with this problem lack enzymes in the stomach needed to digest milk properly. As a result, undigested milk sugars pass further along the intestinal tract than usual without being digested. This leads to the symptoms of intolerance described above. Using certain preparations such as Lactaid or Lactrase (available without prescription) before ingestion of dairy products may help in the digestion of these milk sugars, thus allowing patients to eat dairy products. Avoidance of those foods which cause discomfort or eating them in very small amounts are other options. True food allergy such as milk allerg
