2nd July 2025

Can’t Stomach it? How to manage food allergy, intolerance, and sensitivity

Choosing a restaurant for a family dinner or catching up with friends used to be simple, right? These days, it feels like navigating a minefield of ingredients, especially if you’re dealing with digestive distress due to a food allergy, intolerance, or sensitivity.

So, if you’ve been experiencing digestive distress or other unwelcome symptoms after eating, you’re definitely not alone. Let’s break down the difference between food allergy, intolerance, and sensitivity, and what you can do about it.

What’s in a Name? Understanding the Lingo

First things first, let’s clear up some common confusion. The terms “food allergy,” “intolerance,” and “sensitivity” are often used interchangeably, but they’re distinct conditions with different underlying mechanisms. Understanding what type of reaction you’re experiencing is key to making appropriate dietary choices that can address the underlying problem and foster overall health long-term.

Food Allergies are immunological responses to normally harmless proteins in foods, and they can be serious – even fatal. These allergies trigger acute symptoms on the skin (like hives or eczema), in the digestive system (nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea), or the nervous system (headaches, dizziness).¹ Common food allergens include dairy, egg, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, soy, and wheat.
Food Intolerances are non-immune reactions that arise from an insufficiency of enzymes required to break down a specific component of food. This reaction typically causes gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhoea. Common culprits for food intolerance include lactose, gluten, food additives, and FODMAP carbohydrates. Carbohydrate intolerance, in particular, is quite common among children.²

Diagnosing and Managing Your Food Issues

So, how do you figure out what’s really going on?

Diagnosis: Skin prick tests and blood tests are commonly used to identify immune-related food allergies. These are best managed with avoidance of the offending food and by having an emergency medication plan in place.³

If your tests come back negative but you’re still experiencing symptoms, you might want to consider an elimination diet to pinpoint intolerances or sensitivities. This diagnostic tool involves a brief elimination of common food culprits, followed by a food reintroduction phase. With careful experimentation and observation, it’s possible to identify which foods are causing your symptoms.

Eliminating Safely: For those exploring an elimination diet, here’s how to do it safely and effectively:⁴

Remove Common Triggers: Temporarily eliminate foods that are commonly removed while trying an elimination diet. This includes dairy, eggs, wheat, sugar, soy, nightshades, and nuts. Additionally, you should also eliminate any other foods that you suspect are causing issues.
Maintain the Diet: Once you’re symptom-free, the general guideline is to maintain the diet for two to four weeks, establishing a clear baseline.
Reintroduce Gradually: Then, slowly reintroduce problem foods one at a time. This means having a couple of servings per day for a few days in a row. If you don’t have any symptoms after several days, you can move on. If you do, try eliminating that food again and waiting to see if you return to symptom-free. Repeat this process until you’ve covered all the foods you suspect!

Did You Know?

Lactose intolerance affects a significant portion of the Australian population – between 27% and 44% are estimated to experience some lactose sensitivity. If you suspect you might be lactose intolerant, chat with your pharmacist. They can offer advice and discuss options for managing it.

Understanding your body’s unique reactions to food is a journey, but it’s a worthwhile one. By identifying the root cause of your symptoms, you can make informed dietary choices that support your well-being and get back to enjoying your meals without worry!

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