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AGESWas It Something You Ate?
16 GUIDE TO WELLNESS CR.ORG
challenge, where you eat a
small quantity of a poten-
tial allergen under medical
supervision.
The treatment plan for afood allergy is simple yet life-
changing: Avoid any contact
with the food that’s causing
problems. Be extra cautious
when eating out (alert your
server), and carefully read
labels when purchasing
packaged foods.
“One allergic reactiondoesn’t predict the next,”
Ogbogu says. “Even if you’ve
had a fairly mild reaction in
the past, a future reaction
could be more severe.”
That’s why many doctorswill prescribe self-injectable
epinephrine (Adrenaclick,
EpiPen, or generic) when
you test positive for a food
allergy. “If your physician
recommends an EpiPen, it’s
important to carry it with
you at all times,” Ogbogu
says. “It could save your life
in the event of an acciden-
tal exposure that causes
anaphylaxis.”
Pinpointing food intoler-ances is more challenging
than diagnosing allergies.
Aside from lactose and fruc-
tose intolerance (which can
be confirmed via a breath
test), most food sensitivities
can’t be accurately detected
through lab work. But if
you have gastrointestinal
symptoms after eating, you
should still see your primary
care doctor to rule out other
causes, such as inflamma-
tory bowel disease.
Skip home tests, which are
frequently inaccurate and
may cause you to eliminate a
food from your diet unneces-
sarily. Ramesh says that many
of them measure an antibody
that has little to do with food
allergies or sensitivities.
Your doctor may ask you
to try an elimination diet
to zero in on the food that
might be causing your diges-
tive problems. That's when
you stop eating many types
of potentially problematic
foods, then reintroduce
them one at a time. He or
she might also suggest a
plan that combines keeping
a journal with eliminating
one food at a time. “Keep a
diary of everything you eatand how you feel afterward,”
Ogbogu says. “If you have
symptoms every time you
eat a certain food, try elimi-
nating it from your diet to
see if you feel better.”
When you’ve found an
offender, you may want
to try introducing it back into
your diet in small amounts.
Some people with food intol-
erances can handle limited
quantities of the trigger item
with no symptoms.
Different forms of food may
also be tolerable. If you’re
lactose intolerant, you may
be able to eat certain cheeses
or yogurts. And if you’re
sensitive to fructose, you may
tolerate certain fruits but not
high-fructose corn syrup.For almost a decade,
popular diet plans have
proposed that gluten—
a protein found in wheat,
rye, and barley—is
responsible for many
common health problems.
The trouble is that there's
little evidence a gluten-
free diet has any health
benefits for most people.
Some people do need
to avoid gluten: those
with celiac disease, an
autoimmune condition
in which gluten causes
intestinal inflammationand damage, and those
who have a condition
known as nonceliac gluten
sensitivity (NCGS), which
can cause gastrointestinal
symptoms in response
to gluten. But these two
conditions combined
affect less than 7 percent
of Americans.
For people who don't
have celiac or NCGS,
there's not much to
recommend gluten-free.
A 2017 study in the British
Medical Journal found
no connection betweeneating gluten and an
increased risk of heart
disease in people without
celiac disease.
In fact, giving up gluten
may actually be harmful.
The same study showed
that people who chose
a gluten-free diet were
more likely eat fewer
whole grains, which
has been shown to help
protect against cancer
and heart disease.
The grains are also high
in fiber, which lowers
the risk of type 2 diabetes.Should You Go
Gluten-Free?
‘ One allergic
reaction
doesn’t
predict
the next,’
Ogbogu says,
but a future
reaction
could be
more severe.