Food allergies occur when your body has an immune response to certain foods. Eight types of food account for about 90% of all food allergies. These include eggs, fish, milk, peanut, shellfish, soy, tree nuts and wheat.

Allergies usually occur in children when they get exposed to these foods for the first time. It is rare for a food allergy to present for the first time in an adult. Most patients confuse food allergy with food intolerance.

A food allergy can be life threatening and occurs with even a small amount of ingested food. Food allergies presents hives, vomiting, belly pain, throat tightness, hoarseness, coughing, breathing problems, or a drop in blood pressure. Food intolerance on the other hand is not life threatening and presents as nausea, gas, cramps, belly pain, diarrhea, irritability, or headaches. The affected individual can sometimes tolerate smaller amounts of that food item well without any reaction.

There is a comprehensive food intolerance test available that tests you more than 300 food substances and helps you in designing a food exclusion diet. This may be helpful in some patients with irritable bowel syndrome where certain specific foods seem to trigger symptoms.