Gluten, Wheat, Lactose Intolerance: 3 Food Intolerances and How to Treat Them

Three of the most common food intolerances are gluten, wheat, and lactose. Gluten is the storage of proteins in wheat, oats, barley, and rye. It's prevalent in bread, cakes, and baked goods. People with wheat intolerance experience negative reactions to the proteins in wheat; children are often wheat intolerant. Lactose is the building block of dairy products and people who are lactose intolerant are intolerant to the proteins in milk. People with these common food intolerances will experience the following:

Bloating

Stomach and abdominal pain

Diarrhea

Constipation

Excessive Gas/wind

Vomiting

Stomach cramps

Indigestion

Fatigue

Strong headaches

Weight gain

Before going into specifics about lactose, gluten, and wheat intolerance, it's important to understand the fundamentals behind them. Although the symptoms are often similar, food intolerance should not be confused with a food allergy, which is a hypersensitivity to certain foods caused by the presence of certain antibodies; these allergies affect the body's organs while intolerances only affect the digestive system.

Food intolerances typically develop over time and the onset of symptoms can be slow. People who experience these have type III Gig antibodies. Symptoms can occur anywhere between 8 and 72 hours after eating the offending food or additive. The food causing the problems stresses the immune system and this affects the digestive system. The body believes the food being eaten is going to cause an infection caused by a bacteria, virus, or fungi; the food triggers the body's defense mechanism.

Gluten, Wheat, and Lactose Intolerance: The Details.

The most serious form is Coeliac disease. This leads to the poor absorption of certain nutrients and can lead to serious health problems. Approximately 15-20% of people with gluten intolerance have Coeliac disease; it can take up to 13 years to develop. People suffering with either should avoid any food with oats, kamut, spelt, rye, barley, and oats; this includes bread, flour, biscuits, cakes, noodles, pizza and beer.

People with wheat intolerance can often eat products with grains-other than wheat. Approximately 15% of the population has common symptoms from wheat. The symptoms experienced from eating wheat can worsen to Irritable Bowel Syndrome but the most common symptom is bloating. Foods to avoid include cereals, breads, and pastas plus sauces, yogurts, and beer containing wheat-based stabilizers. And some sausages use wheat for filler.

Some people who are lactose intolerant cannot digest the sugars (lactase) found in wheat products; others experience symptoms because they are intolerant to the proteins in milk; the latter is known as a type III dairy intolerance. And people who are lactose intolerant can also be fructose intolerant. Conditions that can follow include chronic dehydration, iron deficiency, malabsorption, and osteoarthritis.

Fortunately, testing is easier than in the past. Testing starts with a general allergy/intolerance test. If the test comes back positive for a food intolerance, further testing can pinpoint whether a person is experiencing a specific type. And today's testing can test for up to 271 types of food stuffs. This type of specificity means people can avoid a specific type of food while enjoying other types of food.

Patients who are lactose, gluten, or wheat intolerant face the inconvenience of avoiding certain foods. But after accurate diagnosis and through a revised diet, they can enjoy life without the painful symptoms.