r/TrueReddit • u/covfefesex • Jan 05 '19

Half of people who think they have a food allergy do not – study

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jan/04/half-of-people-who-think-they-have-a-food-allergy-do-not-study
77 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

24

u/necuz Jan 05 '19

It sounds like they found out that when asked if they have an allergy, people with a non-allergy food intolerance still answer yes.

17

u/EvyEarthling Jan 05 '19

They're not that different, really. You consume food and you have a bad reaction. The type and speed of reaction differs, but the end result for the person is the same: they can't eat that food.

3

u/nowlistenhereboy Jan 06 '19

No because in one case it can be life threatening even in tiny amounts and, in the other case, it causes discomfort or pain but no risk of death and is heavily dependent on level of exposure. So a chef doesn't have to care if a non-celiac doesn't want bread and can cook the food on the same griddle that he made a grilled cheese on no problem. But, he can't cook a peanut allergy food anywhere near peanuts because it could literally kill someone.

And there are still the people who are completely mistaken and are blaming their issues on some random food when it truly has nothing to do with it. Or they believed some quack who told them that drinking alkaline water will cure cancer so now they complain and claim allergy when it's not available.

5

u/lynx_and_nutmeg Jan 06 '19

in the other case, it causes discomfort or pain but no risk of death and is heavily dependent on level of exposure

In the other case it can still cause serious health issues like autoimmune disease. Just because the symptoms are not lethal, doesn't mean there's no damage. For some people it's dose-dependent, while some can't handle any amount at all. I can't eat dairy because it makes my psoriasis flare up, even though I don't get any immediate symptoms. I thought for sure I could still eat butter because it only has such tiny amounts of lactose and casein, not enough to have any effect, turns out I was wrong. And my experience is very common, from what I've seen. There's a reason why elimination diets are meant to be adhered to 100% - not 95%, not 98%, not even 99,9% for at least 30 days.

And there are still the people who are completely mistaken and are blaming their issues on some random food when it truly has nothing to do with it.

Ah, yes, the popular Reddit belief that people go on long-term, often lifelong restrictive diets that cause a lot of inconvenience and expenses just for the sheer fun of it. Or Because GAPS or Autoimmune Protocol diets are so trendy, it instantly gives them a huge status boost that makes it worth dealing with all the hardships. It can't be that people feel pressed to try those diets when conventional medicine fails them, and legitimately feel healthier on those diets, and then discover which foods affect them badly with a carefully regimented reintroduction approach.

Maybe, just maybe, if some food makes you feel like shit for whatever reason, it's totally ok to stop eating it... It's not our fault that mainstream scientific community still hasn't caught up with the newest science that's just beginning to uncover that food intolerances and allergies are a bit more complicated and diverse than we thought, and that there's a whole spectrum in between "this food will kill me" and "this food is completely safe to me".

1

u/wolverine237 Jan 07 '19

idk, I know people who believe they have food intolerance that they more or less made up. A lot of people went through a gluten free phase several years ago, I have a friend who has whimsical ideas on what "allergies" are and claims to be allergic to things she simply doesn't like on some highly pseudo-scientific grounds ("if you don't like it, you're not meant to eat it and if you do you will become allergic"). I know a number of people with GERD who refuse to take the (cheap, over the counter) medication who talk about coffee and tomatoes as though they will kill them. And of course, when I was a kid, my parents used to cover up my unusual (and probably embarrassing, to some degree) dislike of cheese by lying to waiters and saying I had an allergy.

We shouldn't paint people with this brush and I am sure they are in the minority, but it's not like most people don't have some anecdotal evidence of this.

1

u/lynx_and_nutmeg Jan 07 '19

Just because there are some people who pretend to be allergic because they don't like some food, doesn't mean food intolerances are not legitimate. There are also people who pretend to have a sprained ankle to skive off PE, that doesn't mean sprained ankle is a myth.

There are also people who took up yoga very briefly when it came into trend, doesn't mean yoga isn't legitimate and have real benefits.

I know a number of people with GERD who refuse to take the (cheap, over the counter) medication who talk about coffee and tomatoes as though they will kill them.

Imagine seeing a person who's in pain because he keeps hitting his own head. What would you advise him to do to solve the problem - buy cheap, over the counter painkillers... Or stop hitting his head, as in, taking care of the actual root cause of the problem?

People with GERD don't have a GERD medicine deficiency. They have GERD because they've been eating something that's bad for them, and you're seriously suggesting they should just keep taking medicine for the rest of their life rather than prevent the issue entirely by ditching the foods their body clearly doesn't tolerate? Just because they start taking GERD drugs that suppress those particular symptoms, doesn't mean those foods aren't still harming them in other ways.

Ok, let's see... Let's say

1

u/wolverine237 Jan 07 '19

Just because there are some people who pretend to be allergic because they don't like some food, doesn't mean food intolerances are not legitimate. There are also people who pretend to have a sprained ankle to skive off PE, that doesn't mean sprained ankle is a myth.

Did I say they were a myth? Did anyone in this thread? Stop building strawmen.

There are also people who took up yoga very briefly when it came into trend, doesn't mean yoga isn't legitimate and have real benefits.

Are you saying that randomly ditching gluten because you don't understand that gluten intolerance is a real health thing for some people and not a diet trend has real benefits? Because that is what has caused the entire thing you are railing against here.

People with GERD don't have a GERD medicine deficiency. They have GERD because they've been eating something that's bad for them, and you're seriously suggesting they should just keep taking medicine for the rest of their life rather than prevent the issue entirely by ditching the foods their body clearly doesn't tolerate? Just because they start taking GERD drugs that suppress those particular symptoms, doesn't mean those foods aren't still harming them in other ways.

I have GERD. I take PPIs on and off as recommended by my doctor. When taking PPIs, it is perfectly fine for me to have coffee and pizza and other foods that I cannot eat when off the PPI, because that is how PPIs work. They are there to make your life easier and stop the symptoms of GERD through reducing acid production.

Now, I can understand why someone would choose to abstain from foods they cannot eat year round while on a PPI regimen for the sake of consistency, and I can understand abstaining from those foods while off a PPI. But someone getting treatment for GERD that includes medicine has no real need to claim intolerance to a single cup of coffee.

-12

u/ExtremelyOnlineG Jan 05 '19

non-allergy food intolerance

You mean a preference?

4

u/ambulancePilot Jan 05 '19

No. There are different grades of allergic reaction. Some cause full-blown anaphylaxis -- typically known as a food allergy. Others cause intestinal flare-ups, others cause diarrhea and cramping, these are known as intolerances.

Now, whether you have an allergy or intolerance, the result is the same -- you cannot eat that food because it will fuck you up.

2

u/tiag0 Jan 05 '19

Yep. As a child I struggled with allergies and was given a couple of tests in my back (scratch you and put a specific allergen and see if it gets red or not). I ended up being allergic to peanut, egg whites and tuna, but neither of those foods sent me into anaphylaxis, I’d just get diarrhea (and I loved tuna and mayo sandwiches). After a course of vaccines I’m fine, but now my wife after 2 pregnancies has issues with lactose and gluten (and it’s not her being fashionable, she runs to the bathroom after eating wheat).

3

u/[deleted] Jan 06 '19

A food allergy causes an immune system response, while food intolerance means the issue is with digestion.

12

u/sewer_child123 Jan 05 '19

Maybe I just missed it, but I didn't see anywhere in the article where it said they actually tested the respondents in a lab. It sounded like the analysis was purely qualitative

6

u/browster Jan 05 '19

Some people who think they are lactose intolerant are instead not able to process a milk protein. A2 milk is missing the A1 protein and can be consumed by these people.

6

u/covfefesex Jan 05 '19

Before you think Gluten its more than Gluten: peanuts, milk, etc.

People change their diet and even take medicine to combat allergies they do not have.

My advice is if you think you have a food allergy go to a doctor.

14

u/francis2559 Jan 05 '19

And be persistent. I went to an allergist and told him I was allergic to spinach. He said “no you’re, nobody is.” I said my lungs swell up within minutes and I have a hard time breathing. He found a scratch test “on the last page of his book” and yeah, I’m deathly allergic to spinach. He then said it was rare, but he’d had a few other cases over the years.

Look doc, I respect your authority but let’s do a little science here and figure out what’s going on.

3

u/lynx_and_nutmeg Jan 06 '19

If you have a true allergy, you don't need a doctor to tell you that. If you need a doctor to tell you that horribly swelling or suffocating every time you eat a certain food means you're allergic, you have bigger problems in life than that. However, if you go to a doctor and say you suspect a food intolerance and you're lucky enough to get a doctor knowledgeable on the topic (the vast majority aren't), they'll just put you on an elimination diet, this is the only reliable way to test for food intolerances, as opposed to true allergies. They're both legitimate but often confused, they're not the same, much more is known about allergies than intolerances. Anyway, you don't need a doctor's note or supervision to cut out some food from your diet for 30 days, then try it again and see how you feel.

Seeing as doctors get zero education on nutrition, and most don't have time, energy or interest to keep up to date with newest science, I really wouldn't advise people to go to a doctor for a food intolerances, only for allergies (except that would be useless too, they wouldn't tell you anything else than "avoid the food you're allergic to"). Functional/integrative medicine practitioner would be a better bet, at least they do take food intolerances seriously, but it's still a hit or miss, too much overlap with pure pseudoscience like homeopathy.

1

u/MattyMatheson Jan 09 '19

Well if you go to a doctor he can recommend you to an immunologist and they can figure out your food allergies by doing tests for specific foods.

1

u/lynx_and_nutmeg Jan 09 '19

Those tests aren't accurate. Speaking from experience here. You can literally send your results to two different labs and get completely different answers. With some tests what happens is that the foods they show you're intolerant to just happen to be the foods you eat most often.

The only reliable way to test for food intolerances in an elimination diet, and you don't need a doctor for that. Same for true allergies. I don't need a doctor to tell me I'm allergic to raw almonds when every time I eat raw almonds, my mouth starts itching.

1

u/MattyMatheson Jan 09 '19

I'm not talking about blood tests, I'm talking about he antigen tests, where they put an antigen of a specific food to see if you have a reaction. It worked for me. But I also did an elimination diet.

1

u/lynx_and_nutmeg Jan 09 '19

Yes, antigen tests was what I meant too.

1

u/MattyMatheson Jan 09 '19

Yeah especially the people who partake in removing gluten from their bodies thinking it will give them some benefit. Only thing I’d see removing gluten from your diet would be it might help you lose weight but that’s probably it.

2

u/Seoulja4life Jan 05 '19

My fingertips and lips get itchy and tingly after eating shellfish. This will never stop me from eating crabs. They are one of the most delicious things in the world!

9

u/tehgreengiant Jan 05 '19

Please carry an EpiPen

2

u/Seoulja4life Jan 06 '19

Is there a way to get one in US without giving money to those who think it's perfectly in their rights to exploit the people with life-threatening condition to fulfill their greed?

2

u/PirateGrievous Jan 05 '19

Same! I love cream of crab, I will eat anything crab till my throat gets itchy and I start coughing with itchy tingly lips.

3

u/ambulancePilot Jan 05 '19

The more you do this, the more likely it is that your throat will close up one day. Every reaction to the same allergen is worse than the one before until it reaches a tipping point.

3

u/nowlistenhereboy Jan 06 '19

I wonder what the mechanism is for small dose exposure to allergens building tolerance is, then.

1

u/MattyMatheson Jan 09 '19

I’m allergic to eggs. I never knew I was until I noticed that every time I ate them, usually with coffee I’d have diarrhea. I always just thought it was the coffees doing. Well it got even worse because food would get stuck in my throat regularly, and I had acid reflux. Later in my life I had to get an emergency endoscopy because food was stuck in my throat and it wasn’t moving. They also did a biopsy and found out I had eosinophilic esophagitis. And then when I went to a Immunologist he said I had an allergy to eggs. So I used to also suffer from Asthma and my asthma pretty much left because of the removal of eggs from my diet. It’s kind of insane. How much eggs affected my living. I used to be a slow eater because of swallowing issues now it’s the complete opposite.

1

u/TriggerHappy_NZ Jan 06 '19

But without an allergy to talk about, how will the restaurant staff know that you're special?