Doctors' Digest

What does food allergy or food intolerance mean?

There are two kinds of sensitivity to foods – food allergy and food intolerance. An allergy is where the immune system reacts to certain types of food as though they are a threat to the body. This can cause severe, sometimes life-threatening, symptoms that can occur almost instantly and can leave the sufferer feeling very ill. An intolerance does not involve the immune system and will generally not cause such a severe reaction, or act quite as quickly. Often the symptoms of an intolerance develop over a period of time, leaving the sufferer feeling generally sluggish and unwell.