Food Intolerances

One of the most frequently asked questions I come across in my practice is ‘Can you please test me for food intolerances?’. Funnily enough, one of the tests I use the most infrequently is the food intolerance test. Let me explain why.

It is often the case that food intolerances are not the cause of the health problems the client come to see me for, but in fact the symptom. Food intolerances can often develop as a result of underlying digestive disturbances. Perhaps the easiest way to explain this is to look at the link between digestion and the immune system. The immune system is the ‘gate keeper’ that vets everything we ingest and determines what is safe to allow in the body. If your digestion is not working well, the immune system may not recognise the larger undigested food particles that it is now presented with and goes on the defensive. As a result, you may experience diarrhoea, bloating, stomach cramps, skin problems and a whole host of other symptoms.

In other words, the inability to properly digest any foods can cause your body to treat them as ‘foreign’ and you will start experiencing unpleasant symptoms every time you eat those foods. It is perhaps then no surprise that wheat gluten and dairy proteins, both of which are relatively hard work for the digestion, are the two foods most people report to be intolerant to.

So when I see clients with food intolerances, the most frequent test I suggest is not an intolerance test, but a comprehensive digestive stool analysis. This gives me a detailed view of the state of the digestive system. I find that many times, once the digestion is back into working optimally the food intolerance symptoms are also a thing of the past.