WHAT CAUSES FOOD INTOLERANCE? CHEMICAL EXPOSURE
The main one, in our view, is the increasing exposure to man-made chemicals – food additives, pesticide residues, exhaust fumes, solvents, industrial pollutants and the like. It is known (although only from case-histories) that a single massive exposure to a toxic chemical, such as a pesticide, can bring on a severe form of food intolerance. It is also the case that a small proportion of people with food intolerance are unduly sensitive to everyday chemicals. What is more, if those people can reduce their chemical exposure, they often find they can tolerate the foods to which they are sensitive normally. It seems likely that these people have certain enzyme deficiencies, which make them vulnerable to man-made chemicals and intolerant of certain foods – but if the chemical stress can be reduced they are able to cope adequately with those same foodstuffs. Such people would not have been ill if they had lived 50 years or more ago, but they are ill now, because the environment around them has changed.
Environmental chemicals could also be a factor in others with food intolerance – even those who are not overtly sensitive to everyday chemicals. It is possible that chemicals in food and drinking water affect the gut wall, making it more leaky – there might be no obvious effect from the chemicals alone, but they could create the right conditions for food intolerance.
Such chemical exposure might also play a part in true allergy. We have already seen that patients with food allergy are more likely to be enzyme deficient than those with no allergy or intolerance. And the incidence of certain allergies appears to be increasing – in fact, this is much better documented than the alleged rise in food intolerance, because doctors are agreed on how to diagnose allergic diseases. Eczema is one of the allergic problems that is steadily rising – and it is one that is quite often associated with food sensitivity. Whether chemical exposure is playing a part in this remains to be seen.
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