Confused by why a food you could once eat is now making you feel sick? Worried that you have developed an intolerance?<\/p>\n
Intolerances are different from allergies<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Allergies involve an immune response that can cause rashes, hives, shortness of breath, or even be life-threatening. Intolerances are due to difficulties digesting or metabolising a food and can cause more gut-related symptoms including bloating, stomach pain and diarrhoea.<\/p>\n What causes intolerance?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Our body uses enzymes (chemicals that speed up reactions in the body) to break down foods; if something goes wrong with these enzymes digestion is disturbed and intolerance can occur. For example lactose (a sugar in milk and lots of our favourite dairy products) intolerance, which is pretty common, occurs with not enough lactase enzyme. Luckily there are great lactose-free products available these days!<\/p>\n