Is Food Intolerance the Hidden Cause of My Stomach Pain?

Stomach pain can disrupt daily life and leave you searching for answers. If you often experience discomfort after eating, you might wonder if food intolerance is behind your symptoms. Understanding the connection between food intolerance and stomach pain can help you find relief and improve your well-being.

Typically healthy foods that can be linked to food intolerance in some individuals

What Is Food Intolerance?

Food intolerance happens when your digestive system struggles to process certain foods. Unlike food allergies, which involve the immune system and can cause severe reactions, intolerance mainly affects digestion. Common intolerances include lactose intolerance, gluten sensitivity, and reactions to certain food additives.

Symptoms often include stomach pain, bloating, gas, diarrhoea, and nausea. These symptoms usually appear a few hours after eating the offending food and can vary in intensity.

How Food Intolerance Causes Stomach Pain

When your body cannot properly digest a food, it may ferment in the gut, producing gas and causing inflammation. This process leads to discomfort and pain. For example, lactose intolerance occurs when the body lacks enough lactase enzyme to break down lactose in dairy products. Undigested lactose ferments, causing cramps and bloating.

Similarly, gluten sensitivity can irritate the lining of the intestines, leading to pain and digestive upset. Even small amounts of trigger foods can cause symptoms, making it hard to identify the cause without careful observation.

Identifying Food Intolerance

It can be incredibly difficult to pin point your trigger foods, especially if you have a varied diet. Whilst wheat and dairy aren't uncommon issues for people, triggers can often be something totally unexpected that you may be eating every day. Food intolerance can vary enormously between individuals and triggers can include typically "healthy" items such as oranges, almonds, bananas or even lettuce.

Our food intolerance and sensitivity test can help pin point potential problems foods. All tests and consultations include a sensible elimination plan that will be personal to you. Elimination and reintroduction is so important because, whilst we want to identify the issues and start the healing process first and foremost, we also aim not to exclude foods long term unless it's necessary for you.

Managing Stomach Pain from Food Intolerance

Once you identify trigger foods, managing your diet becomes key. Avoiding or limiting these foods often reduces stomach pain and improves digestion.

Reading food labels carefully is important since many processed foods contain hidden ingredients that cause intolerance. Preparing meals at home allows better control over what you eat.

When to Seek Medical Advice

If stomach pain is severe, persistent, or accompanied by other symptoms like weight loss or blood in stool, please see your GP. They can rule out other conditions such as infections, ulcers, or inflammatory bowel disease.

Food intolerance can be challenging to diagnose, but with patience and careful attention, you can find relief. Understanding your body's reactions and making informed food choices supports better digestive health.

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