Know your symptoms

Food allergy symptoms

The symptoms of a food allergy can develop within minutes, but also hours after eating the culprit food. Even tiny amounts of the food in question can trigger an allergic reaction. Anaphylactic shock, the most severe type of allergic reaction, can be life threatening. Symptoms of an allergic reaction to food usually include some of the following:

• red, itchy skin or rash
• dry, itchy throat and tongue
• swelling lips and throat
• sore, red and itchy eyes
• wheezing and shortness of breath
• runny or blocked nose
• nausea, feeling bloated
• diarrhoea and/or vomiting
• coughing

Food intolerance symptoms

Unlike with food allergies, food intolerance symptoms are not linked to an immune reaction to the food allergen. People with a food intolerance can often eat small amounts of the offending food without being affected.

The symptoms of food intolerance are generally more varied than those of a food allergy, take longer to develop and are rarely life threatening and often include:

• diarrhoea
• constipation
• weight loss
• anaemia
• bloating
• unexplained muscle and joint pain

This article was published on Tue 25 August 2009