How do the symptoms and severity of food allergy and other forms of food intolerance compare?
Food intolerance reactions vary considerably in the severity of the associated symptoms and the length of time for which they persist. For example, peanut allergy is often a life long affliction and can cause severe, even life threatening, anaphylactic reactions to tiny amounts of peanut protein. Cows’ milk intolerance may be severe in early life, but typically disappears as the child grows older. The majority (about 90%) have outgrown the intolerance by the time they go to school (typically by the age of 3 years). Similarly, egg intolerance is usually a temporary phenomenon associated with early childhood.1 2 Coeliac disease (gluten sensitivity) is normally life long and requires adherence to a diet that excludes all gluten, but in some people the disease is mild and goes undiagnosed as the individual is not aware of any symptoms.
