Five signs your child has food sensitivity

According to Precision Nutrition, many people say they are ‘allergic’ to foods when they are actually intolerant. Food intolerances usually occur when the gut reacts poorly to a specific food or ingredient used in food preparation. Intolerances can result from the absence of an enzyme needed to fully digest a food, such as with lactose intolerance.

A food intolerance or a food sensitivity occurs when a person has difficulty digesting a particular food.

A food allergy triggers an extreme and potentially life-threatening reaction known as an IgE-mediated immune response, whenever you are exposed to a certain type of food such as peanuts or strawberries.

Amy Myers MD states that a food sensitivity, on the other hand, is more difficult to diagnose because it triggers an IgG reaction in your system which is a delayed immune response. It could take up to 72 hours for symptoms of a food sensitivity to present. The problem with this delayed response is that you likely eat a wide range of foods in the time it takes for symptoms to appear making it difficult to spot a pattern between the specific foods you eat and your symptoms.

It is therefore important to pay keen attention to your child’s body and what it is trying to tell you.

Here are five signs that would be indicating that your child has a food sensitivity.

Due to the inflammatory response in the body caused by food sensitivity, children can suffer from headaches as a result. It is therefore important to keep track of the child’s symptom, when it starts and what is the change in diet. This would be important information to give the doctor. Any instance where a child suffers a headache should be taken seriously as it could be caused by so many things.

While not many are aware of this, asthma attacks can be a result of sensitivity to sulfites. This could be present in processed foods such as chips and baked goods and it could also be naturally occurring. If you notice that your child gets an asthma attack after eating certain processed foods take a closer look at the ingredients. Having trouble breathing is a serious issue and can be threatening so always consult your child’s doctor.

While you might think your child just has a bug flu if they are vomiting it is important that you consider it might be a food sensitivity, especially if there is a pattern to it. If your child experiences nausea each time after eating a certain type of food, you should make sure to consult a pediatrician about it.

One of the most common symptoms of food sensitivity is a stomach upset and diarrhea. Milk protein is an especially common sensitivity for children and usually leads to the mucousy stool that might have streaks of blood in it. A solution for this would be to eliminate dairy products from your child’s diet.

Kids suffering from insensitivity to foods such as gluten, dairy and food dyes tend to experience negative behavioral changes. You might realize that your child gets aggressive or irritable after consuming certain artificial colors and this might be caused by an insensitivity to that specific food dye. So take note and make the necessary dietary changes.