There is growing public awareness of food intolerances, and allergies in general. More and more people are discovering that they are adversely affected by foods of various kinds. Food manufacturers are starting to provide low-allergy foods, and gradually friends and families of those affected are becoming more understanding. But the scope of symptoms and disorders that can be caused by food intolerances is still largely misunderstood, so many people remain undiagnosed and suffer unnecessarily. This page is intended to give you a overview of some of the new knowledge and to enable you to have a better idea whether you or someone you know might be affected. There are a number of terms used to describe adverse reactions to foods - allergy, intolerance, addiction (as we are often addicted to foods we react badly to), sensitivity. For GlucoLife Website the purposes of this article, any of these can be taken as terms to describe anywhere on the whole spectrum of reactions. Although there are many foods (and other substances) that we can be sensitive too, gluten is possibly the most common and the most under-diagnosed.
Many people feel that it is also one possible cause of other sensitivities. So for this article, we’ll be focusing mostly on gluten, though most of what is discussed is applicable to other foods as well. What are the different types of sensitivities? Why does gluten cause so many problems? How common is gluten intolerance? What symptoms indicate gluten intolerance? How can I get gluten intolerance diagnosed? What should I do next? I already know I need to be gluten free - take me straight to the page on how to do it! WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SENSITIVITIES? There are at least three main types of antibodies associated with food sensitivities - IgE, IgA, IgG. Ig stands for Immunoglobulin, and these are proteins produced by the body to deal with foreign pathogens. They are specific to the pathogen. So what we’re talking about here is when an antibody is produced to something that should be benign, like a food.
To make it easier to see which is which at a glance, I’m going to give them "nicknames". Associated with the "immediate" allergies, caused by a release of histamine. These aren’t usually life-threatening, but sometimes cause anaphylaxis, which can be fatal if not promptly treated. IgE allergies are well covered by traditional allergists, so we won’t go into them in any depth here. Let’s call these ones "Evergreen", in honour of the green grass of spring, a time when many people get hayfever. IgA allergies to egg, yeast, soy, milk, GlucoLife blood glucose support or gluten have been identified, though gluten has been the most studied. IgA is associated with the gut, and IgA allergies can cause gut damage. In the case of gluten (and possibly also casein) the IgA causes intestinal permeability. So we’ll call these ones "Attackers". IgA allergies don’t seem to "go away" and appear to be genetically linked. IgA (Attacker) reactions have a high correlation with some specific genes in the HLA range of genes.
If you have one of these genes, there is a high likelihood that that gene will have been "expressed", and you will have functional gluten intolerance. Foreign proteins that enter the GlucoLife Blood Sugar Supplement elicit an immune response by the IgG system. This is what is most often meant when people talk about "food allergies". IgG allergies sometimes come and go, and are often associated with your favourite foods, as they are what’s eaten most often. So these ones we’ll call "Greedies". If a person has a lot of IgG (Greedies) allergies, chances are they have leaky gut. The good news is that if the leaky gut is healed, the foods can usually be reintroduced after a while. IgM is a class of antibodies found in circulating body fluids. IgM antibodies are the first antibodies to appear in response to an initial exposure to an antigen. Apparently the IgM’s are sometimes the only place where the gluten reactivity shows up - which may explain why some people test clear for gluten, yet have definite symptoms when they eat it.