DOHA: The number of patients suffering from food intolerance and allergy is on the rise, becoming a health problem, which medical professionals blame on the increased presence of pesticides and preservatives in our food.
In food allergy, an abnormal immune system triggers the production of antibodies (IgE) in the human body which rebel against particular food items like gluten, dairy products, seafood etc. Some private clinical labs The Peninsula spoke to said the number of residents visiting them for food allergy tests was on the rise.
Food allergy, either IgE antibody mediated or delayed non-IgE mediated allergy, are reactions caused by the immune system. Dr Farooq Anwar, a Doha-based family physician, said that there were many reasons for the growing food intolerance cases. “Mainly, the use of fertilizers and pesticides is the culprit behind this phenomenon worldwide.”
He said that another factor was change in diet patterns as residents have turned away from traditional food and their kitchens were filled with foreign food-stuff. He said that generally doctors treated such patients according to symptoms but the tests helped in finding the food-trigger in the case of serious food allergy.
He said frozen and processed food was also causing food intolerance among consumers.
He said food allergy tests were useful in chronic cases. “Patients must undergo such lab tests under a doctor’s advice and observation. Sometimes they might prove misleading,” he added. In such cases, the tests say that one has the allergy to a specific thing while they do not have and it’s called “false positive”.
Discussions with pathologists and doctors further reveal that some people experience symptoms of disease after eating certain foods even when these foods are not producing antibodies (IgE) against them and these non-immune reactions are known as food intolerances.
Food intolerance is identical in manifestation to food allergy with the difference that in the former, antibodies are not formed while in the latter they are produced by the body. Food intolerance is much more common than food allergy and in it the start of symptoms is usually slower, delayed by many hours.
The reason for the rise in food allergy/intolerance patients is not that food outlets are selling expired food or food made in unhygienic condition because the regulatory mechanism is fully functional and strong in Qatar and erring outlets face immediate legal consequences. But this problem is deeper than what human eyes can detect, like additives in preserved food and pesticides-loaded vegetables and fruits.
Dr Yahya Mulikandathil of Hamad Medical Corporation thinks that like food intolerance, food poisoning cases were also on the rise. “It is due to additives used to preserve food stuff,” he said, adding that most of the patients did not visit doctors as they were even not aware of the disease.
He stressed on organic farming, noting that pesticides were making food, particularly fruit and vegetables, unhealthy. “Vegetables and fruits must be washed with plenty of water before consumption,” he advised residents. “Those vegetables which are generally consumed in raw-form need special care like cucumber,” he said.
Dr Mulikandathil said that food poisoning symptoms appeared primarily in gastro-intestinal system while in food allergy, patients usually faced skin rashes or difficulty in breathing.
