Types Of Food Intolerance

Food intolerance usually occurs for various reasons and there are different types of food intolerance- in some people the intolerance may be temporary; in some cases the food tolerance may be permanent and in others the food intolerance may be extreme or not too serious either. This may occur due to the body’s inability to produce enzymes to digest certain types of food and while in some cases this intolerance is natural, in others it may occur after a certain organ is removed and can no longer produce the juices required by the body to digest a particular type of food.

One of the many types of food intolerance is lactose intolerance. What happens in these cases is that men or women with lactose intolerance cannot have milk or foods with lactose in them mainly because of the fact that the enzymes required to digest them are not produced in their bodies. As a result these foods affect the person eating them adversely by upsetting their stomachs and they may get diarrhea too. They may even vomit- generally they cannot eat foods with lactose in them which means that they cannot even eat dairy products nor can they drink such products.

Another of the various types of intolerance is sucrose intolerance. As the name suggests such people are not able to eat foods with sucrose in them because their bodies do not consist of sucrose which is an enzyme that is needed for the digestion and breakdown of sucrose into glucose. The mal-absorption of the sugar could actually cause very serious problems in a person who is sucrose intolerant. Usually such people ‘puke out’ anything that consist of sucrose, get abdominal cramps or release excessive gas due to sucrose intolerance which may also occur due to aging rather than genetics.

Fructose intolerance is also one of the various types of food intolerance in which the person lacks aldolase B which is an enzyme that digests fructose. This is mostly a genetic diseases- if a person’s parents is intolerant to fructose it is likely that he/she too will be intolerant to fructose. The chances are increased if both parents have fructose intolerance. Fructose is more difficult to breakdown which is why the diet of such a person mostly consists of glucose, maltose and other simpler sugars while the fructose intolerant person is advised to stay away from foods high in fructose.

These are some of the many types of food intolerance. As you can see, some of these are genetic. Certain types of food intolerance, such as fructose intolerance, are found in smaller numbers and in lesser numbers of people because of the fact that they occur in very rare cases. Not many people are fructose intolerant or sucrose intolerant. Then, some people may develop sucrose intolerance due to a poor diet or age but the most common of all is lactose intolerance. Some types of food intolerance which occur due to the removal of an organ may include intolerance to products with too much cream in them. This usually is a problem in people who have had to get their gallbladders removed.