Читать книгу The Food Intolerance Bible: A nutritionist's plan to beat food cravings, fatigue, mood swings, bloating, headaches and IBS - Antoinette Savill, Antoinette Savill - Страница 11

That food can cause adverse symptoms has been appreciated for thousands of years. Herodotus in 460 BC was reported to have said that ‘One man’s meat is another man’s poison.’ Hippocrates also identified that stomach upset and skin hives could be caused by drinking milk. It is also something that has been acknowledged and appreciated in medical and academic papers for over a hundred years, but this peer-reviewed literature has not always been given the credence it deserves. It is because of this lack of appreciation for what might be causing a variety of symptoms that uncertainty has been created, and an assumption that such-and-such a symptom must be due to something else, like stress. However, we are now in an age where food intolerance affects at least 45 per cent of the population and it has become such an issue that people are seeking out the answers for themselves. Since a food intolerance does not represent a pathology for which there is a medical treatment – by contrast, a food allergy has the potential to do much harm and does require medical attention – there has been much less medical attention focused on this subject. With the march of the masses who suffer from adverse reactions, however, the development of tests, research and investigations into the topic now provide previously unheralded recognition that food intolerance is very real and, unfortunately, a significant factor in many people’s health.

I predict, unwillingly and hoping that I will be proven wrong, that with modern lifestyles and our food supply being what they are, food intolerance will increase in the coming years, making it a major cause of unpleasant symptoms for decades to come.