Wheat Allergies And Wheat Intolerance

With rising issues of food safety and quality, the topic of food allergies is often raised on the basis of serious health concerns that it can cause. Often confused with food allergy, food intolerance is something that can be cured if treated properly. Like any other food allergy, A wheat allergy too is suffering from confusion with wheat intolerance by people all around the world. Also known as gluten allergy, a wheat allergy is sometimes confused with celiac disease and many users have in fact treated themselves for gluten allergy when they actually had celiac disease!

While the treatment of wheat or gluten allergy is not that dangerous that it will lead to serious consequences, some treatments of a wheat allergy can. Therefore, it is necessary to have proper identification between a wheat allergy and wheat intolerance. Although it is advised that you reach your final conclusion only after a proper diagnosis from a doctor, this article covers the basics of finding out whether you have a wheat allergy or wheat intolerance.

Many people suffer from allergies that are caused by numerous sources that can be both external as well as internal. While air borne or chemical allergies are caused by external factors like pollen, dust, pollution or insect bite, internal allergies are usually characterized by food allergies. Caused due to certain food item that has been consumed by a person, food allergies can be caused by anything from peanuts to eggs or even meat! Known to cause utmost discomfort, a wheat allergy is something that is more or less incurable among adults and the best way to stay safe is to avoid using products made with wheat.

Unlike many other allergies, a wheat allergy is very difficult to manage because of the presence of wheat in a variety of food items. Gluten being the basic ingredient of wheat is something that provides wheat products with the spongy feel and is also responsible for a wheat allergy. Found as an ingredient in so many food items, a wheat allergy can be very hard to manage. Let’s see how we can differentiate between wheat intolerance and wheat allergy:

Two completely different problems, while allergies cause the immune system to trigger some reaction as a result of any external or internal allergy, intolerance to a food item does not result in any reaction from the immune system. Although a wheat allergy is an auto-immune response of human body to the non-absorption of wheat or gluten in the body, this is not the case with wheat intolerance. Some symptoms of wheat tolerance include breathing problems, nausea, coughing, asthma, as well as coughing.

More typical than a wheat allergy, wheat intolerance basically is a result of reaction that is triggered by gluten present in wheat and wheat products and leads to the non-absorption of wheat nutrients. A complex protein that is needed for baking a cake, it is the sole ingredient that ensures the sponginess of baked goods.
Not to be confused with short term symptoms of a wheat allergy, symptoms of wheat intolerance include low iron count in blood, depression, eczema and gastrointestinal problems. Long term ignorance of wheat intolerance can lead to diseases like bowel cancer and diabetes.

Whether it is a wheat allergy or wheat intolerance, proper treatment is mandatory for any complication there is.