With symptoms including diarrhea, bloating, fatigue, and rashes, you could be dealing with a food intolerance without even knowing it. Here we look at five foods that might be making your life a misery.
1. Lactose
Approximately 65% of the population is living with some degree of lactose intolerance. As one of the most common food intolerances, it is incredibly likely your body has difficulty digesting the sugar found in dairy products. This number can be heavily impacted by your genetics, with people of East Asian descent being even more likely to be lactose intolerance. Symptoms of lactose intolerance include abdominal pain, excess gas, and nausea.
2. Gluten
An estimated 5-10% of people suffer from some level of gluten insensitivity, making it a common food intolerance. With gluten found in foods considered the staple of most people’s diets, this can have a real, frequent impact on your wellbeing. From bread to beer, gluten is everywhere. Gluten-free foods are one of the biggest emerging markets with gluten-free cereals, pasta, and many other “free-from” foods now on offer. You can see if this particular food intolerance is affecting you with one of our tests.
3. Caffeine
The hardest one to take for many, your morning cup of coffee could be causing anxiety, insomnia, and even an increased heart rate. Caffeine is found in some of the most popular food and drink products; tea, chocolate, soft drinks, and energy drinks, to name a few. Before you bin the Nescafe, you may want to consider taking an intolerance test to see whether you’re one of those affected.
4. FODMAPs
Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides And Polyols (FODMAP’s) are a group of sugars which are not completely digested or absorbed. With low FODMAP diets popular amongst bodybuilders and athletes, they’re utilized for the ease with which the foods are digested. FODMAP intolerance is known to cause bloating, excess gas, and stomach upset. Identifying food intolerances that may exacerbate FODMAP sensitivity can make a big difference to your lifestyle.
5. Salicylates
Plants are sitting ducks for insects and animals who eat them. Unlike animal prey, they can’t just up and run from predators. So, to try and protect themselves, they produce salicylates. Salicylates are natural chemicals that act as a repellent and, when consumed in reasonable amounts, are fine to eat. However, for some, salicylates can be a real problem, causing sinus infections, diarrhea, and even asthma. As they’re in everything from raisins to cosmetic products, it is impossible to remove them from your lives altogether, but knowing if you have this particular food intolerance lets you know to avoid them where possible.
To see whether you have any of these or any other food intolerances, you can use our allergy tests.
