Allergies and Intolerances

Many people could be avoiding certain foods unnecessarily and without proper advice:

• Research* shows that up to 20% of adults think they suffer from a food allergy or food intolerance
• However evidence suggests that the real prevalence of food allergy and intolerance in adults is less than 2%
• Over 98% of the UK population can therefore choose from a wide range of food stuffs to make up a healthy balanced diet without worrying about allergies or intolerances.

The Wheat Hypersensitivity Report, authored by Dr Heather Mackenzie and Dr Carina Venter of the University of Portsmouth reveals that over half of the British population believes that wheat allergy is a common illness and also believes that in 2009, wheat was the most commonly self reported food allergen for both men and women.
However, this new report highlights that:

• Confirmed wheat allergy is less common than other food allergies such as peanuts and other nuts, eggs and milk. 

There is a clear discrepancy between the number of people who report that they have food allergy or intolerance and the numbers whose food allergy/intolerance can be confirmed by a medical diagnosis: self-diagnosis and other diagnostic tests (not conducted by qualified medical professionals) are not reliable.

Food allergy is usually investigated via a skin prick test by a medical professional with access to the patient’s clinical history, sometimes in conjunction with a period of eliminating the suspect food.

Parents who believe their child has a food allergy may feel anxious about their health and go to great lengths to ensure their child avoids certain foods.  Children are more prone to nutritional problems when foods are excluded from the diet so it’s even more critical that they receive a correct diagnosis.

At present there are no validated tests for diagnosing food intolerance and the diagnosis is through the avoidance of the food for a period of four - six weeks. If the symptoms improve, it is recommended the food should either be introduced at home or during a food challenge, over a period of at least four days.

The report highlights and explains the difference between wheat allergy, wheat intolerance and coeliac disease, which are frequently confused:

• Wheat allergy is a reaction to wheat involving an antibody called Immunoglobulin E(IgE). Typically symptoms occur within 2 hours of eating wheat and range from mild to severe, including hives, itching, gastrointestinal symptoms and wheezing. 
• Wheat intolerance does not involve the immune system but symptoms are often similar to those of allergy although they are usually less severe and tend to occur after a longer period of time and after ingestion of a larger amount of food.

• Coeliac disease is immune-mediated but different antibodies are involved than in wheat allergy and there is a wide variation in symptoms experienced, which can include weight loss, diarrhoea, stomach cramps and iron deficiency.

If you have symptoms which you think may be caused by a food allergy or intolerance, you should seek help from a qualified medical professional.  Any food, including wheat, should not be excluded without appropriate advice on how to maintain a healthy diet.

The Wheat Hypersensitivity Report also highlights that wheat is present in a wide variety of foods such as pasta, ready meals, bread and biscuits so avoiding it can be difficult and negatively affect your daily routine. Avoiding any one food such as wheat may have an adverse impact on your nutritional intake, and quality of life, so don’t make life complicated for yourself without getting proper medical advice.

If you exclude bread from your healthy, balanced diet, you won’t be able to enjoy a great tasting food which is naturally low sugar, low in salt, is calcium enriched and is a good source of protein and fibre.

White bread is fortified with vitamins and minerals to give your family a great taste and a healthy choice. Four medium slices of white bread (140g) provides:

• 248mg calcium, which is 31% of the EU Recommended Daily Amount (RDA) of 800mg
•  15% of the RDA of iron for a woman
• 0.35mg of thiamin which is 43% of RDA for a woman (19-50 years old)

Professor Tom Sanders, Department of Nutrition & Dietetics at King's College London, believes that unless you suffer from the very rare condition of coeliac disease (a serious allergic reaction to gluten, the protein contained within wheat), cutting wheat out of your diet is extremely unwise:

"Many women believe they have a food allergy or intolerance but in reality numerous studies have shown that only 1-2% of the population suffer from a food intolerance and only 1% suffers from Coeliac disease. Cutting out wheat is almost always an extremely bad idea - at best it will lead to mental and physical underperformance but at its worst this type of fashionable fad will set women on the slippery slope towards an eating disorder. The quality of a diet is all about what you include not what you cut out."

Professor Judith Buttriss, at the British Nutrition Foundation added: "Elimination diets are only used by health professionals for very short periods of time, with the specific intention of isolating a problematic food through a process of carefully re-introducing foods over no more than two weeks. This very controlled diagnostic process has been misapplied by unqualified individuals who now preach elimination diets as a long term dietary solution for everything from weight-loss to intolerance. Women should be extremely cautious of any diets like these and especially wary where they are given no advice on how to replace the nutrients they will be losing with alternative foods. Tablets or supplements are not an alternative to a balanced diet."