What is an Allergy?

Allergies are one of the most stubborn and frustrating health conditions of today.

It is a condition of unusual sensitivity to a substance which is normally harmless or even beneficial to the majority of the population. When a sensitive person comes in contact with such substance, by inhaling, ingesting or contact with the skin, a variety of symptoms occur ranging from slight itching to swelling of the tissues and organs, mild runny nose to severe asthmatic attacks, fatigue to severe body pain. The substance that entered the body causes the immune system to over-react and stimulates the release of body's chemical defence force. These chemical defence mechanisms in turn create the physical symptoms of the allergy.

What is an Intolerance?

Many unorthodox studies explain intolerance as a reaction to a given substance (usually harmless) without an immune response, intolerance is merely the body’s rejection of a foreign substance resulting in pathology. Therefore, can we not also conclude that “allergy” is only another word for “intolerance”?

Allergy or intolerance can manifest as almost any symptom, but it is rarely diagnosed. Many of today’s common or chronic illnesses are caused by allergies to food and environmental intolerances.

 

 

When monitoring your reactions to different foods, it is important to be aware that food and environmental allergies / iintolerances can manifest themselves in many ways, not all of them obvious. 

The following symptoms are the most common manifestations of food and environmental intolerances: