The 6 Most Common Types of Food and Drink Intolerance

Apart from food allergies, some people can also experience intolerance. There are several substances in food and drink that most often cause intolerance reactions in the body. What are the substances and their food? Check out below the most common food intolerances.

A glimpse of food intolerance

Food intolerance is a condition in which the body cannot digest certain substances from food or drink. It is not an immune or immune system response. It’s a chemical reaction between food substances that enter the body against digestive conditions. When a person has an intolerance to a substance in food or drink, the symptoms can appear several hours after consumption, and can even appear 48 hours after consuming it.

The most common food intolerance

1. Milk and its products

In most people, milk and dairy products can cause intolerance reactions. Included in dairy products are cheese, butter, ice cream, and yogurt. Symptoms that arise include:

Stomach pain
Bloating
Diarrhea
That stomach
Nausea

There are two things that may cause some people to experience intolerance to milk or its products:

Lactose

Milk contains lactose, which is a type of disaccharide carbohydrate. Well, these carbohydrates must be broken down first into simpler forms so that they can be absorbed by the body. This breakdown requires an enzyme called lactase from the body. However, some people lack the enzyme lactase so they are unable to digest the lactose that enters the body.

Casein

Basically, dairy products also contain casein type protein. This casein may be difficult for some people to digest, causing inflammation or swelling in the digestive system.

2. Gluten

Gluten is a type of protein found in grains like wheat and barley. Of the grains that contain gluten, wheat is the most consumed. Several conditions are related to gluten, namely Celiac disease, and non-celiac gluten sensitivity.

Reporting from the Medical News page, non-celiac gluten sensitivity occurs when you do not show a positive test result for Celiac disease but react negatively with the gluten in your body. It is not known how this happened, but people with this condition will show symptoms of intolerance such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, feeling tired, bloating, and depression.

Foods that contain gluten include wheat flour, barley, bread, cereals, pasta, pastries made from wheat flour, and beer.

3. Histamine

Normally, histamine is easily metabolized and produced by the body. Histamine is a chemical in the body that plays a role in the immune system, digestion and nervous system.

However, some people can’t break down histamine properly. The most common cause why people experience histamine intolerance is disruption of the function of the enzymes that are responsible for breaking down histamine, namely diamine oxidase and N-methytransferase. Histamine cannot be processed properly and perform its normal function.

People with histamine intolerance should avoid foods high in natural chemicals such as:

Fermented food or drink
Dried fruit
Tamarind
Avocado
Vinegar
Smoked fish

Symptoms that will arise in histamine intolerance are:

Headache
Itchy
Restless
Stomach cramps
Diarrhea
Low blood pressure

4. Caffeine

Caffeine is a bitter chemical found in a wide variety of beverages, including coffee, soda, tea and energy drinks, and in chocolate. Most adults can consume 400 milligrams of caffeine, the equivalent of about 4 cups of coffee a day.

However, in some people, they are very sensitive to the presence of caffeine even though the amount is very small.

People who have too high sensitivity to caffeine are usually due to genetic conditions and a decrease in the ability to metabolize and excrete caffeine. So when caffeine enters the body, no matter how small the amount is, it will still produce symptoms of intolerance, namely:

Heart beat faster
Nervous
Restless
Insomnia

5. Salicylates

Salicylates are natural chemicals produced by plants as protection from environmental conditions such as insects and diseases. These chemicals are found in a wide variety of food items including fruits, vegetables, tea, coffee, spices, nuts and honey. Apart from being naturally present in food ingredients, salicylates also exist are food preservatives and are also in medicine.

Most people have no problem consuming the normal amounts of salicylates in the diet. However, some people are very sensitive to the presence of even the smallest amount of salicylates and may experience:

Nasal congestion
Sinus infection
Inflammation of the intestine
Asthma
Diarrhea

Removing salicylates from food is very difficult to do, so people with salicylate intolerance should avoid foods high in salicylates such as spices, coffee, raisins, and oranges. Likewise with drugs containing salicylates.

6. Fructose

Fructose is a simple type of sugar found in fruits and vegetables, sweeteners, and corn syrup. In people with fructose intolerance, fructose cannot be absorbed efficiently into the blood. As a result, the unabsorbed fructose accumulates in the large intestine, this fructose will be fermented by intestinal bacteria and cause digestive disorders. There are also symptoms that arise are: