Your Food Intolerance Q and A Results!

Thank you to everyone who blogged/tweeted/facebooked me a question for Dr Gill Hart from YorkTest. I received some really interesting questions, including some that showed how hard it can be dealing with food intolerance, especially in children. All the answers from Dr Gill Hart are posted below. I have removed your names from the questions, even though some are public via facebook, to preserve your privacy. Here they are!


Q After being diagnosed as gluten intolerant amongst other things, my symptoms vastly improved once I cut all the 'bad' foods out. However after a year of being ok, I started getting swelling in my face, eyes, hands & feet in the mornings which improves through the day. Some days are worse than others but it occurs almost every day, my GP is not concerned, but this has been happening for 2 years now. Is the swelling a symptom of food intolerance? Thank you

A Swelling such as this is usually associated with an allergic reaction, or reaction to environmental factors such as pollens, animal hair, dust mites or face / body creams. However, foods intolerance is also strongly associated with inflammation which can result in a variety of symptoms including swelling. It is really good that you have checked this out with your GP and the next step is to reassess your blood for food intolerance using the YorkTest FoodScan to see if any of your culprit foods have changed. You could also consider taking an AllergyCheck test for environmental allergens such as those that I mentioned above. Let me know how you get on.

Q What are the symptoms of salicylate intolerance? My doc said I have it but I don't know much about it and I'm reluctant to go off even more food .....

A Salicylates are chemicals that occur naturally in many plants, including many fruits vegetables, and herbs. Salicylates can also be found in many medicines, perfumes and preservatives. There are many different symptoms associated with salicylate sensitivity, and I wonder how the symptoms you are experiencing are affecting your daily life. If you can live with your symptoms then that may be alright for you at the moment, but if not then you really need to act. Overall, knowing that you are reacting to certain foods and not doing anything about it can be asking for even more trouble later on so it will be worth the effort. With your diagnosis you need to look at removing foods from your diet that contain salicylates and see whether these improve your symptoms. If not then there may be other factors involved. The symptoms of salicylate sensitivity are very similar to food intolerance symptoms and it would be worth you taking a more general food intolerance test to rule this out.

Q I've been diagnosed for 22 yrs, can you start to become tolerant to wheat etc. If so would there be any long term affects? Many thx

A It is not clear from your question what you have been diagnosed with. But the answer to your question about whether you can start to become intolerant to wheat is YES. There are different reactions to wheat that can occur. The most widely known is Coeliac disease which is caused by a reaction to wheat proteins, however, this is NOT the same as wheat allergy or wheat intolerance. Gluten and wheat intolerances can cause symptoms that are not related to inflammation of the intestines, and are not linked with Coeliac disease, however, they are also very real. Coeliac disease, wheat allergy and wheat intolerance require different tests to diagnose them.

Q Question for Dr Gill Hart Please: My son is now 20mths(dec 16th) but has been Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Egg Free since March 2010, he is on the supplement MaxiJul & Calcuim santos(when my chemist can source it) but I find it hard to keep his weight up. He was under 7kg in Jan2010 - failure to Thrieve - and I managed to get him to 10.3kgs by start of Nov 2010, but then he got his 4 eye teeth(all at once) and due to pain&non eating he went down in weight. He eats well and loves his food but with most things in this diet range being low in fat. Can the doctor Recommend me anything I can do or foods I can give him that will bulk him up? To help him maintain a good stable weight(Based in Rep Of Ireland)Thank You

A I am sorry to hear about your son. I wasn’t clear from your question about the sort of symptoms your son has been suffering from, and  why he has been put on a gluten, dairy and egg free diet in the first place. However, the first thing I would recommend is a visit to your Doctor for a review to check his general health. You should also mention any symptoms he had prior to being gluten, dairy and egg-free. Certainly I wouldn’t recommend any dietary changes in children of this age unless under direct supervision from a Doctor or Dietician.

Q I am a coeliac, what are the chances of my baby having an intolerance also?

A Coeliac disease does run in families, and the involvement of one particular gene called HLA-DQ2. If an immediate family member such as a parent or sibling has Coeliac disease, there is about a 5% to 10% chance that that person will have it.

Q How would you know if you even had a food intolerance? what are the common symptoms? my bf gets migraines after dairy products but only some of the time is it an intolerance or a coincidence?

A According to the leading medical charity Allergy UK, over 45% of the population suffers from food intolerance. The symptoms are widespread including gut problems, skin disorders, joint pain, fatigue, headaches and, as likely in your boyfriend’s case, migraines. You will know if you suffer from a full-blown allergy to foods such as nuts and shellfish; strong immediate reactions with severe stomach upset and swelling in the mouth and throat, which can be fatal, are typical of classical allergy reactions.  Food intolerance is different; the emerging view is now is that most food intolerances are delayed reactions, taking up to three days to show themselves, and are therefore much harder to detect. The challenge is to determine the exact combination of foods that are triggering the symptoms; the average is five different foods. The fact is that every individual person is unique with a different biochemical make-up, even to others with similar conditions. A recent study that surveyed 514 migraine and headache sufferers showed that 81% benefited in terms of the frequency and severity of their attacks if they removed the foods from their diet that showed a positive reaction in the YorkTest FoodScan blood test. The fact that people saw a return of their migraine and, or, headache symptoms on reintroduction of the foods identified by the test supports the fact that this is an active and specific approach. The test only requires a few drops of blood from a finger prick that can be collected in the comfort of your own home. Now might be right time to get your boyfriend tested.

Q Can intolerance reactions be reduced by taking certain vitamins or by other means? If so, how could I reduce my symptoms? I have quite a few intolerances and they're becoming a large problem because I can’t eat much. Does that mean I’m not very healthy/doing something wrong, or is it just natural? Why do we develop intolerances?

A There are lots of reasons why we develop food intolerances. It has been suggested that increased use of chemical fertilisers, intensive rearing of animals, eating more processed foods, use of more food additives, chemical pollution and stressful lifestyles could all contribute. You haven’t mentioned how your intolerances have been assessed and how you know what foods you are reacting to. To get a definitive assessment you should ideally carry out a YorkTest FoodScan IgG test and use the Nutritionist consultations provided with the service. The Nutritionist will work with you to replace foods that you need to avoid, and suggest any vitamins or supplements you should take in so that you eat a well balanced and healthy diet. Research data show that identifying the actual foods that are causing the problems and then removing them from your diet is the most effective method. I hope that this is helpful.

Q Hi, i have been sort of gluten free for a few months, but i dont really know if i need to be i get sore heads when i eat sertain foods and my right hand side becomes very sore and irattable and it hurts to breath sometimes, but i dont really know enought about it to know what i should or should not eat it does not always happen when i eat gluten, but i also happens when i have milk but no other dairy products. Do u know what could b causing this. Sorry about the spelling lol.

A You haven’t mentioned why you have removed gluten from your diet, but there does seem to be a link between foods that you eat and your symptoms. I suggest that you first get checked out by your Doctor and mention your symptoms, particularly your breathing problems and right-sided soreness. If the Doctor gives you the all clear then you could consider taking a food allergy or food intolerance test. But I would get checked out first.

Q Wondering if the perceived increase in food allergies and celiac is an actual increase among the population- and if so, why does the Dr. think this is happening?- or has modern medicine just allowed diagnosing of previously undetected allergies?

A This is a really interesting question. We need to consider Coeliac disease and classical immediate reaction food allergies separately, as they are quite different. There are many studies that have shown an actual increase in Coeliac disease. One study in Finland shows that total prevalence seems to have doubled during the last two decades, and the increase cannot be attributed to the better detection rate, so it appears to be real. Another study in the US has shown a 4-fold increase in the last 50 years. Environmental factors are thought to be responsible but the exact cause or causes are not yet known. Food allergies too are also on the increase, hospital admissions for food allergies among children have risen by 500 per cent in the last 20 years but doctors do not understand what is driving the increase. Overall, 6-8 per cent of children under three are affected by food allergies, a dramatic increase since 1990. There are several theories about why food allergies are on the increase; homes that are too clean, leaving children's immune systems unexposed to bugs (the "hygiene hypothesis"), a lack of vitamin D from the sun, poorer diets, increasing use of paracetamol (usually in Calpol), and delayed weaning (the introduction of solid foods). The jury is out though. I hope this answers your question

Your Food Intolerance Questions Answered

I am always full of questions about my food intolerance, and often hear conflicting advice, confusing isn't it?  What really happens in my tummy when I eat gluten? How long does it take to fix? What's the difference between an intolerance and an allergic reaction? What sort of tests are there out there? Are they reliable? How will I survive without eating a real mince pie this Christmas?

Are blood test results, from a company like YorkTest, enough to convince your NHS Doctor to agree to a prescription for your intolerance? Should I take the results to my NHS Doctor?

I am also wondering if I take a YorkTest, should I be eating gluten a few weeks before I do the test?

So with the aim of getting your tricky questions answered, YorkTest have made a very kind offer of putting forward their food intolerance expert, Dr Gill Hart to answer any food intolerance questions you may have.  I will be collecting questions from readers via twitter over the Christmas holidays, but if you don't have a twitter account then feel free to comment on this post or use my facebook page to post your question. Dr Gill Hart will then answer your questions in the new year!

Dr Gill Hart can answer questions on a range of subjects relating to food intolerance, questions relating to YorkTest's food intolerance testing, or perhaps questions relating to eating healthy after your diagnosis. The YorkTest website has some information about Dr Gill Hart, but I'm just going to say that she knows her stuff.

So go ahead, follow me on twitter and tweet your questions with the tag #gfquestions and I will send them over to Dr Gill Hart, then post your answers over here in the new year!

Purple Potatoes from Albert Bartlet!

I am massive potato fan, potatoes are my second fave carb after rice. When Albert Bartlet sent me some yummy potatoes to write about, a big box of Roosters and Purple Majesty, I was in potato heaven!

Albert Bartlet are the kings of potato production. You have probably had some of their Roosters, perfect little red potatoes which are happy roasted, mashed, chipped, wedged, boiled or whatever you fancy doing with them. They are rather posh potatoes, with clean modern packaging and perfect potatoes every time, they don't even look like they have seen dirt. They really are good spuds though, the red skins look and taste very nice, and I think they are the best potatoes for making wedges with as the texture crisps up well on the outside, the skin is not too thick, and they remain fluffy on the inside. The skins have a pleasant potato flavour without being too strong. I know, I know, they are just spuds, how can I get that excited by them. But when you don't eat wheaty carbs you become excited about the nice non wheaty ones.

Bartlets also sent me some Purple Majesty just in time for Halloween. These spuds are sold at Sainsburys and I'm not ashamed to admit they got me rather excited. With their skins on they are very dark, almost black straight from the packet. Cut them open and the insides are very purple, and very pretty. Good news is they don't stain things much though, so you don't get purple hands.

I had quite a few, so gave some to my Nieces for their Halloween tea, and some to the vicar next door. The vicars wife came running out the house just as I was leaving asking me "what to do with them?", not a question I usually get about spuds. She was happy to hear you just treat them like normal spuds. Bartlets had also sent me a recipe card which I gave her to calm her purple potato panic down a notch.

I made wedges with mine, I'm wedges obsessed perhaps. I prepared them just the same as my normal potatoes, though due to the colour they are a bit harder to tell when they are done on sight only, as you cant see when they are going brown as easily. I had friends around for dinner, so we did a full taste test. Just like the Roosters the wedges were crispy and caramelized on the outside and fluffy inside. The skins thin and with a nice clean potato taste. One of my guests said she could "taste the purple", but we couldn't agree what purple tastes like (unlike pink icing, which tastes of strawberry even if its not flavoured). We ate the lot, and I had made loads, so I think that means they were a success.

For my little boy I made a purple roasted potato the next day. He is only just one year old, and likes to feed himself. The purple mash potato was treated with some trepidation, he giggled at it when I cut it open, but he soon tucked in after some prolonged poking and the first tentative mouthful. They are little spuds, ok size for a kiddy roast potato though.

So... this is quite a long article on the humble potato. But it's time potatoes were jazzed up a bit, and these purple ones are the jazzyest potatoes I have seen for a long while. I'm all for sexing up vegetables, I have heard some sexy multicolored beetroots are next on Sainsburys agenda, and I can't wait!

For transparency Albert Bartlet send me some potatoes for free via Sainsburys, but I could say what I like and have not been paid for this article, as is always the way on my blog.