Symptoms and manifestations of food allergy, with particular relevance to the gut.
Adverse reactions to ingested foods can cause a wide variety of symptoms, syndromes and diseases. Several different mechanisms may be implicated in organic (i.e. not psychologically based) reactions to foods, and these include IgE- and non-IgE-mediated immunological reactions-food allergies. Many specific conditions have now been recognised, and can be separated from the general body of food allergy/food intolerance disease; diagnostic criteria are recognised, and often a specific diagnostic test is available. For others, both to establish that reaction to food is involved, and to establish the foods implicated, diagnosis may require exclusion diet, open and/or double blind, placebo-controlled challenges, ideally monitored objectively. Manifestations of food allergy in the gut are described; and the relevance of digestive function, in relation to dose and distribution of allergens, is discussed.