Food Intolerance Directly Linked To Bowel Disease
Food Intolerance Directly Linked To Bowel Disease
A team led by Dr Anton Emmanuel at University College London, UK, gathered data on 28 patients with Crohn’s Disease, 25 patients with ulcerative colitis, and 24 adults without bowel disease.
The researchers gave participants a list of 113 foods and asked them whether any food gave them a bad intestinal reaction. For the following six months, the participants’ blood was regularly tested for levels of IgG antibodies linked to the 113 foods.
Food intolerances were rare among the control group, but participants with bowel disease had a "much higher frequency", report the team. Problems with wheat, milk and beans were common.
"The results were compelling. If there had been no link, one would have expected the results to be 50/50 - i.e. random chance association between (i) patients with objective measure of food sensitivity and (ii) subjective report of food sensitivity," explained Dr Emmanuel.
"For years, GPs - indeed most of the medical community - have perceived food intolerances as being largely in the mind, and this is probably the first research project to demonstrate that they could well be wrong.
"Indeed this points to what could be a direct link between food intolerance and patient symptoms."
Intolerances to peanuts, cashew nuts, hazelnuts, brazil nuts and chilli were about twice as high among the patients. But problems with lentils and broccoli, wheat, milk, kidney and haricot beans, coffee, onions and oranges were much higher.
The team will now investigate further the links between IgG antibodies and food intolerances, including whether specific foods should be avoided based on antibody tests.
Last Updated: 16/07/2007 - 12:00 AM
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